The Legend of Spyro: Blood Moon
by Cent Con
Summary: Spyro and Cynder have defeated Malefor once and for all, but a shadow still lingers over the realms, and the purple dragon of legend's strength will not be enough to stave it off. A new generation of Guardians begin to come into their own, ready to defend their world. Fight on, brave heroes, against that beautiful and terrible moonlight, so that we may once again see the sun.
1. Chapter 1

The sun peeked over the horizon slowly, as though it was cautiously surveying the landscape below for any further signs of calamity. Apparently finding none, it sluggishly climbed into the sky, ready to dip back down behind the world at the first sign of trouble. The freshly-mended earth began to lurch back to life with the sun: birds began to sing their merry songs and blades of grass swayed gently in the breeze, as though they didn't have any idea that the threat of utter annihilation was averted with a mere handful of seconds to spare.

Atop an unsuspecting grassy hill, the air shimmered for a moment before bursting like an enormous soap bubble, depositing a tangled heap of purple and black limbs, tails, and wings onto the grass below. Neither figure moved, and for any unknowing observer, they appeared to be as lifeless as the rocks at the bottom of the riverbed nearby. The air meandered slowly past the pair, and the world continued to turn underneath them, just as it always had.

Nearby, a skittering trail was being trampled into the grass by handful of sets of tiny feet, gingerly making their way towards the disturbance. They darted forwards and then stopped, listening intently for any sign of danger, then moved forwards again. Before long, five mice peeked through the long blades of grass at the intruders into their domain: a black dragon and a purple dragon, both of whom lay haphazardly on the ground. None of the mice moved a single hair on their heads for an excruciatingly long time, but once the bravest among them had gathered enough of his nerve, he crept forwards and inspected the purple dragon closer. He stood on his hind legs and propped his forelegs on the dragon's neck, searching for movement.

The air reeked of ozone and burnt carbon, and so did the purple dragon. The mouse wrinkled his nose, and was tempted to turn around and leave the beasts where they lay and allow nature to reclaim their lifeless bodies, but a whisper of motion caught his keen eye and he scurried back to his friends, their hearts beating so quickly that one could call it a vibration.

The purple dragon inhaled, the movement almost imperceptible. The brave lead mouse rose up on his hind legs again to see the black dragon breathing as well, which sent a shudder down his mousey spine. He knew that both creatures were predators, but it simply wouldn't do to leave two defenseless creatures to weather the elements and whatever else may come their way.

The mouse turned back to his friends, gesticulating wildly at the dragons, before pushing past his fellow mice and urging them to follow him with as many squeaks as he could muster.

* * *

_Three weeks later._

Flame the dragon gazed forlornly at the rows of books in front of him, his tired eyes scanning the titles that were printed on the spines in search of something that didn't sound more boring than watching mortar dry.

The Guardian dragons had issued a call to all of the remaining dragon villages and towns across the world, seeking capable young dragons to take up the mantles of Guardians and experienced older dragons to serve as teachers to assist in educating the future Guardians had surprised everyone by putting out the call so quickly after the war against the darkness was over. A few dragons thought that the Guardians were being hasty, but others agreed that they shouldn't rest on their laurels.

There had already been construction projects started on various dragon temples to replace the ones that had been demolished in the war, and each of them needed a set of four Guardians, one for each of the elements, to train the students that would inevitably come to learn how to defend their world. Flame's daydreams had been filled with peering over exotic locales from his perch at the top of a newly-constructed temple, or fighting alongside three other powerful peers against some imagined monster.

Flame had been one of the many dragons to answer the call, but his initial exuberance at seeing the dragon temple for the first time had been cut short by the announcement that each of the dragons would be taking an entrance exam the following week. He had been caught up in sightseeing and spending as much of the money that he had brought with him as he could on trinkets and fried food, and thus had neglected to study at all until the night before the exam.

Realizing that he had been staring at the spine of _An Unabridged Guide to Beets and Beet By-Products: Volume 74_ for the last little while, Flame shook his head and walked a little bit further down the bookshelf in hopes of finding something that wasn't nearly as dry. No one had been told what was going to be on the entrance exam, which sent a vast majority of the hopeful students into an anxious tizzy. Sighing, he considered resigning himself to the fate that he had made for himself and going into the test unprepared, although the mere thought left a sickening feeling in his stomach.

A flash of color drew his attention to the end of the bookshelf, where a pink dragoness was standing. She rose up on her hind legs to reach one of the higher shelves, which stretched out her form in a lascivious display that Flame couldn't tear his eyes away from. She was fairly short in stature, but her hips, tail, and neck were perfectly ratioed with one another, giving clear lines for the teenaged dragon's eyes to trace.

In Flame's opinion, she was the exact definition of perfect beauty.

"You know, I'm pretty sure _I'm _not gonna be on the test," the dragoness said suddenly, darting her eyes over at Flame. "You don't have to study me."

"Doesn't hurt to be prepared," Flame blurted out before he could stop himself. He felt his face heating up rapidly and began to worry about steam emanating from his scaly cheeks: a legitimate worry for a fire dragon.

The pink dragoness's brows raised slowly as she turned her head towards Flame, letting herself fall back down onto her front paws. She regarded the bright red Fire dragon for a moment before saying, "My name's Ember, and I'm not interested in a relationship." Her gaze darted to the floor for a split second. "Or a hookup," she added icily, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh," Flame said quickly, trying his best to not sound disappointed. "I'm not here for either of those things."

Ember drew her head back as though she was surprised. "Oh," she echoed. "Are you studying… beets?" She cocked her head to read a few of the titles in front of Flame.

Flame froze for a moment. A lie burbled up from his throat, unbidden: "Yeah; just refreshing some stuff before the test."

"Hm. They _were _really vague about the things that were gonna be on the test," Ember said thoughtfully, sashaying her way over next to Flame and pulling out a book before he had the chance to read its title. She inspected the cover, saying, "Probably wouldn't hurt to learn a thing or two about beetroots, I guess. Did you know that they put beet juice in the raspberry ice cream here?"

Flame's brain locked up for a few seconds; after an entire childhood of the importance of honesty being drilled into his head, a large part of him was appalled when he said, "Yeah; there's not enough color in the raspberries, so they add a little extra color to make it look more like the berry." He wasn't even sure if what he was saying was true, but a little voice in the back of his head told him that he should do his best to impress the pretty dragoness. He sat on his haunches as casually as he could, but his shoulders and wings were as tense as he had ever felt them.

Ember nodded slowly, although her attention was focused on the book as she opened it to a random page. "Did you also know that-"

"I didn't study all week and now I'm freaking out because I'm gonna fail the test tomorrow," Flame blurted out, interrupting the pink dragoness. His cheeks burned slightly, and he swore that he saw a little bit of steam coming from the smooth scales on his face. The little voice inside of his head told him that he was a moron for telling the ugly truth, but his shoulders and wings began to finally relax again.

Ember's brows raised again, although instead of being upset like Flame had expected, she burst out into an adorable fit of giggles. She shook her head, closed the book she had been holding, and slid it back into place on the shelf. Still tittering, she bemusedly said, "Dear ancestors, it's an _honest _boy. I didn't think those existed."

Flame, entirely unsure of what to do or say, forced an uneven smile. "Thanks?" He said hesitantly, his smile quickly faltering.

Letting out a final giggle, Ember motioned with her head for Flame to follow her. "You're lucky that teaching is the best way to learn," she said, shaking her head as she led him between a different row of bookshelves. She made short work of picking out a few books and shoving them into his chest before looking for more. "Or memorize, I guess." After she had handed the red Fire dragon a hearty stack of books, she grabbed a few more that she carried under her arm until she stopped just short of a nook that was complete with a pair of plush cushions and a just-bright-enough lantern that sat on either side of the window that revealed the star-studded night sky outside.

"Now," Ember said, setting her stack of books down and hopping onto the cushion unceremoniously, "Let's see how much we can stuff into your brain in three or four hours."

* * *

_The next day._

Terrador shouldered open the door to the room of visions, his weary eyes regarding the other two Guardians that were milling about the small, circular pool in the center of the room. Cyril and Volteer's faces brightened slightly as their fellow Guardian entered the room, each of their eyes on him.

"Any luck?" Volteer asked, his voice as excitable as usual.

"There's a few solid candidates, although two have an edge on the others: an Earth dragon and a Fire dragon," Terrador said with a slow nod. He walked slowly over to the green cushion next to the pool of visions, sitting on it with a restrained grunt. Ignoring the old pain in his bones, he asked, "I take it you two found some that would fit as well?"

"Yes, yes-there's a brilliant Fire dragoness that didn't miss a single question on the exam." Volteer practically beamed, as though he was the one who had tutored her. "I spoke to her for a moment after the exam, and oh…" The Lightning Guardian closed his eyes and shook his head lightly. "The things I could teach her. So much space to put so much knowledge."

"Anyways," Cyril said, clearing his throat and raising a brow at his yellow friend, "I was lucky enough to find a delightful candidate that I think will do nicely: the Spirit dragon that Volteer kidnapped and, _ahem_, 'interviewed' last week."

"Did I not tell you that that young lass was special?" Volteer said smugly.

"I'm not so sure that we should send so many dragons for this," Terrador pondered out loud, pointedly ignoring Volteer. "They will need to take remedial lessons once they get back, putting them at an immediate disadvantage from the word 'go'."

"Miss Ember won't need any remedial lessons at all," Volteer argued, waving a dismissive paw.

"If I'm thinking of the same pink Fire dragoness, then she will need _plenty _of remedial combat lessons," Terrador countered, quirking a brow at the Lightning Guardian.

"There _is _safety in numbers," Cyril added, nodding thoughtfully. "They would be able to watch each others' backs, and would be much harder to overwhelm with sheer numbers."

"Not to mention, they could fan out and cover more ground," Terrador nodded slowly. "I agree with Cyril. Four dragons should be more than enough to get the job done." Each of the other Guardians nodded decisively, indicating their agreement. "Each of us will send for our candidates, and all of us will meet here after dinner this evening. Should our four chosen candidates accept, we will send them in search of Spyro and Cynder first thing tomorrow morning."

With that, Terrador nodded towards his two fellow Guardians, and they all stood and headed for the door, a quick afternoon nap on each of their minds.

* * *

**Rated M just to be on the safe side. 90% of the story will be K, 8% will be T, and 2% will be M, for violence, language, and a few suggestive scenes. Relevant content warnings will be posted at the start of each relevant chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

Flame paced the floor of his dorm, his tail thrashing back and forth every now and then as his frustration and worry boiled over. His mouth hung open as he panted, and his tongue was very nearly lolling out of his mouth, seeing as his mind was too preoccupied with chasing its own tail to spare a thought about propriety. The young Fire dragon absentmindedly thought that he was glad that he didn't have a roommate to see him nearly losing his mind with worry.

_I'm gonna get kicked out, _Flame told himself, as though thinking it would help him be adjusted to what was sure to be his new reality. _I'm gonna get kicked out of the Guardian program, and I'm gonna get sent home with my head hanging down in shame because I'm too __**dumb **__to pass a stupid little test. Why else would the Guardians want to meet me? To give me the bad news in person? _

_Ember tried, ancestors bless her heart, but there's just some sorts of stupid that you just can't help, _Flame's mind went on, the thoughts making his heart sink even lower into his chest. Hot tears brimmed the corners of his eyes, but they quickly turned to steam and floated away before they had a chance to fall down onto the soft scales on his cheeks. _Maybe there's an army somewhere that needs a stupid dragon that can hit stuff really hard, set stuff on fire, and not ask any questions, _he pondered, before his train of thought was interrupted by a series of soft knocks at his door.

Flame quickly sat on his haunches and wiped his eyes clear with the back of both of his forepaws before trotting over to the door to his dorm and opening it. "What can I do for-" he started to say before the condition of the dragon in front of him stunned him into silence.

"Hey," Ember said with a small, somewhat sheepish smile. Her rear paw was raised off the ground, her previously-perfect scales were singed and dingy, and Flame thought that the area around one of her eyes was slightly swollen and purple. "How do you think you did?"

Flame shook his head for a moment to dissipate the surprise that had locked up his brain. "Uh," he said dumbly; the only things that he had thought about for the previous hour had been how he had _definitely _failed, and how Ember's help hadn't saved him. "I think I did pretty good with the combat, I did okay with the strategy, and I'm not really sure about the written exam," he said, mostly truthfully.

Ember squinted slightly at him, craning her neck this way and that for a moment before giving him a stink-eye. "'_Pretty good _with the combat', gimme a break," Ember muttered, rolling her eyes. "There's not a scratch on you!" She exclaimed, motioning towards him with a paw.

"Nuh-uh." Flame shook his head, turning slightly and lifting his wing to show a scale on his side that stuck up uncomfortably. "I got nicked with a swipe, and now this thing's gonna be a bear until a new one grows underneath it."

"You're such an asshole," Ember said with a hearty laugh, reaching out and shoving him in the shoulder. "You're supposed to say something like 'oh, man, it was really hard for me, I barely made it out alive' to make me feel better about getting my tail handed to me."

"Wait," Flame said, his fake half-smile falling from his face. "You mean you didn't take down the golem?" He hated that he felt relieved that someone as smart and capable as Ember had failed one of the three portions of the test as well, and thus wouldn't be considered for Guardian training.

"I did, but just by the skin of my teeth," Ember said with a relieved chuckle, unknowingly damping Flame's spirits. "I almost wish I could take the combat test again, now that I learned what sorts of attacks Terrador's golems use. I'm pretty sure I could pass it pretty easily now."

"Oh," Flame's wings drooped slightly despite his best efforts. His lingering hope that he would at least have some solidarity in his failure had been effectively squashed, but he did his best to put a pleasant smile on. "We should get you to the healers so they can get you fixed up," he said, his smile growing somewhat worried at Ember's condition.

"There's a line," Ember said, rolling her eyes. "Apparently I wasn't the only one that had trouble with the combat exam, and that's not even to mention the dragons that _failed_ it."

"Mm," Flame hummed sympathetically, sensing a lull in the conversation. Hooking the end of his tail around the door and taking a step backwards into his room, he said, "Well, good luck with your Guardian training."

"Thank-," Ember started to say, before her eyes narrowed at her new red friend. "What do you mean by that?"

"I meant good luck…?" Flame felt his guts start to twist themselves into knots. He had sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have to tell Ember, who had selflessly helped him study for hours on end the previous night, that he had failed the written exam and that her hard work had been for nothing. Yet, she stood in front of him, and something in the back of Flame's mind told him that the clever dragoness wouldn't let him squirm his way out of being honest with her.

"Well, I appreciate that," Ember said, dipping her head for a second without taking her suspicious gaze off of him. "Since we're both Fire dragons, I guess we'll sort of compete against each other… So it feels a little weird to say this, but good luck with _your _Guardian training as we-"

"I failed the test and I'm gonna get kicked out and I appreciate your help _sooooo_ much but I'm just too much of an idiot to pass a stupid test so it's not really your fault that I failed I mean you did all you could-"

"_Hoo_, boy," Ember reached out and clamped Flame's jaws closed with both of her front paws, snorting with mirth as she did so. "First of all, I think you're supposed to tell the truth to _begin_ with, but better late than never." She let out a titter, releasing the top and bottom of Flame's snout and bringing her front paws back underneath herself. "Second of all, did you actually check to see if you passed or not? They just posted the results fifteen minutes ago."

Flame's heart leapt into his stomach. "I don't have to check it to know how I did," he said morosely, and took another step backwards into his room and prepared himself for another hours-long pity party, but Ember hooked one of her paws on his horns and dragged him across the threshold and into the hall. "What are you doing?" He said, his temper beginning to rise. He appreciated her help the previous night greatly, but he just wanted to be alone to mope properly.

"We're gonna go see the results of the entrance exam," Ember said, turning and closing the door with the tip of her tail before extending her wing and patting her friend on the back. "And you're gonna come along even if I have to drag you by your tail," she threatened, flashing him a toothy smile.

"I don't wanna," Flame mumbled, stumbling forwards as he was not-so-gently patted on the back again.

"Facing defeat with dignity and grace is just as important as achieving victory with humility," Ember said, although Flame thought that it sounded like she was quoting something out of a book.

"I can't,' Flame argued, shaking his head vigorously and ducking out from underneath the pink wing. "I've gotta go meet up with the Guardians so they can kick me out themselves."

Ember blinked. "What?" She asked, stopping in her tracks.

"Terrador sent a messenger to my room, telling him that I needed to meet up with him and the other Guardians after dinner, which is supposed to end in, like, five minutes." Flame hung his head after he finished talking, unable to meet his new friend's eyes.

"Huh," Ember said, sounding surprised. "Well, I see one of two possibilities: either we both failed, or we both passed."

Flame glanced over towards Ember's paws, but shook his head and returned his gaze to the floor, sitting down on his haunches. "I don't understand."

"Volteer sent a messenger to me, and asked me to meet with him and the other Guardians after dinner," Ember said simply.

The red Fire dragon drew his head back in surprise and looked directly at Ember, forgetting to sulk for a moment. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Ember said with a titter, rolling her eyes. "Now come on; let's go see how you did."

* * *

Astrid sucked in a deep, calming breath as she stood in front of the large double doors that led to the room of visions, where she was supposed to meet with Cyril and the other two remaining Guardians. She hadn't been told why the Guardians wanted to meet with her, but she supposed that it had something to do with the fact that she was a Spirit dragon, or that she was blind.

Or perhaps both.

Shaking her head slowly, she stepped to the side of the doors and sat on her haunches, wrapping her tail around herself tidily and waited. She didn't hear any voices on the other side of the doors, particularly Volteer's; she swore there was no door that was capable of holding in the Lightning Guardian's rambling voice, and if she didn't hear him, then she supposed that waiting outside the room for everyone to assemble was just as good as waiting inside.

Astrid allowed her mind to wander, absentmindedly keeping her ears on high alert for a quartet of heavy, Guardian-sized footsteps. If Volteer's impromptu interrogation after she had handed in her exam was any indication, then the Guardians likely wouldn't be asking her any deep or interesting questions. _Yes, I'm really a Spirit dragon, _she rehearsed inside her own head, her lips twitching as she went through her usual answers. _No, I don't have a specific breath ability. No, I can't just willy-nilly use any of the elements. Yes, I'm really blind. Yes, I can still fight just fine;I just can't read. _

Twisting her mouth into something resembling a frown, Astrid supposed that her blindness might be the reason that the Guardians wanted to talk to her. A large, taciturn Earth dragon had helped her take the written portion of the entrance exam since she couldn't read or write. Perhaps she would have to have a partner that could read to her and write down any notes that she might need. Or perhaps she would be dismissed out of hand for her blindness, which was a thought that sent her stomach into a tight, wrenching spiral.

Then again, there was also the fact that there wasn't even a Spirit Guardian to begin with. There was a Guardian of each element at every temple, the biggest of which was Warfang, but Spirit dragons usually kept to themselves and their own shamanistic lifestyle. She was technically applying for a job that didn't exist, which was a fact that garnered her quite a few disapproving grunts from her family and teachers. Astrid didn't mind their disapproval, though; she wasn't sure that she could conjure up a more miserable existence than spending her entire life meditating, studying, chanting a dead language, and listening to the incoherent whispers of the Ancestors. She was fairly certain that she would enjoy being a tour guide for the city of Warfang than to become a traditional Spirit dragon.

The reverberations of heavy footsteps brought Astrid's attention away from the inside of her own head, and she automatically turned her head in the direction of the approaching dragon. The dragon's life force was sizeable, and although she wasn't sure how big the dragon actually was, they were definitely either a very small adult or a very large youth.

"Evenin', Miss Astrid," a rumbling voice greeted, which Astrid immediately recognized as the Earth dragon that had been assigned to help her take the written portion of her exam.

"Mr. Gravenstein," Astrid replied, a polite smile crossing her face. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise, but please: call me Graves. 'S a little easier to say," Gravenstein replied, and Astrid noticed that the large Earth dragon hesitated for a moment. "Are you meeting with the Guardians too?"

Astrid drew her head back in surprise. "I am, yeah. Are you?"

"Yup," Graves nodded.

"Oh," Astrid said, shuffling her wings slightly. "They're not inside yet, so I've been waiting out here for them."

Graves was quiet for a short moment. "Did you check?"

"Didn't have to."

"That so?"

"Yep," Astrid nodded, already growing bored of the small talk. "I can't see, but I don't need to. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure we'd hear Volteer from out here."

"Makes sense, I guess," Graves rumbled, and Astrid noticed a small inkling of awkwardness in his voice. "Mind if I sit and wait with you?"

"Be my guest," Astrid said, extending a wing to her side before folding it against her body again.


	3. Chapter 3

A ticklish feeling prickled Cynder's snout, rousing her from the depths of her slumber. She cracked an eye open and then shut it almost immediately with a strained grunt as a beam of sunlight bounced off of the cold mountain stream and hit her sensitive retina. She scooted herself further into the cave before attempting to open her eyes again, only to be greeted with a few dozen mice that were staring at her expectantly. Their beady, black eyes shifted this way and that, as though they were constantly looking out for danger.

"What is it this time?" Cynder mumbled, looking for the mouse that seemed to be the leader of the group. Upon finding him amongst the cluster of nearly-identical mice, he didn't point towards the mouth of the cave like she expected him to; rather, he pointed towards the interior, causing Cynder to raise a brow at him.

"Did you guys find a hibernating bear or something?" She asked, lazily getting to her feet and looking towards the interior of the cave.

The cave that the mice lived in was just barely spacious enough for a dragon Cynder's size to navigate comfortably. Its walls and floor were surprisingly smooth compared to the rocky countryside outside, although it was a lot more wet than she would have preferred. A thin sheen of algae covered a vast majority of the cave, with patches of bioluminescent mosses and mushrooms sprinkled here and there. The cave wasn't lit well enough to read a book, but Cynder wouldn't have stubbed one of her paws even if there was something to stub them on.

The leader of the mice scurried ahead of Cynder, looking back every now and then to make sure that she was following him. He led her deeper into the cave, and Cynder was about to complain about the tunnel growing narrower and narrower when she realized where she was being led. Ahead of Cynder and the mouse, there was a large hollow full to the brim of multicolored, brightly-glowing mushrooms. Mice that Cynder would hesitate to call shamans tended to frequent the hollow, although there was one resident that hadn't left the area since she had awoken, surrounded by curious mice: Spyro.

Cynder's heart wasn't sure if it should leap into her throat or crash down into her guts; the shamans had been tending to Spyro for the better part of a month, provided she had kept track of the days properly. As much as she hated to admit it, Cynder found her hope that her hero would ever wake up dwindling away with each passing day. The mere thought that saving the world had taken him away from her made her almost sick to her stomach, and with the leader mouse escorting her to the shaman's hollow like he was, she couldn't simply bury the possibility in the back of her mind like she usually did.

A flicker of hope threatened to make her think that Spyro was finally awake, but she shook her head almost imperceptibly. _Take each second as it comes, _Cynder told herself, drawing herself up to her full height and poking out her chest confidently. _Whatever happens, happens, _she mentally added, although a surge of anxious, worried emotion threatened to draw tears to the corners of her eyes.

The mouse's quick pace didn't allow Cynder to dwell on her thoughts for very long, and before she had realized it, she stood at the entrance to the hollow. Spyro lay in more or less the same position that he had been in for nearly a month, and Cynder could tell that the evening shift of healers had already replaced the afternoon shift. The half-dozen mice stood in equal spacing around the purple dragon, and each of them had their softly-glowing paws pressed onto his torso.

Spyro's left leg had moved slightly, and after a few seconds of looking over his form, she noticed that he was breathing a little more rapidly than he usually did. Cynder also thought that his tail was pointed in a slightly different direction, although she wasn't very sure. _No, wait; that one rock that looks sorta like a bird's wing was a little bit to the right of the tip of his tail earlier this afternoon, _Cynder noted to herself. _He definitely moved; probably had another dream or something. _

She was about to ask the lead mouse why he had brought her to the hollow when she noticed him standing in between two of the mouse shamans, hopping up and down and pointing at Spyro's face.

Spyro's half-lidded eye moved from the mouse in front of him towards Cynder, whose own eyes began to shimmer with tears. Her heart, upon receiving good news, jumped into her throat with so much force that she was momentarily worried that she was going to choke. She mouthed the purple dragon's name, although no sound came out of her painfully-tight throat.

"Cynder," Spyro breathed, the ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Did it work?"

Cynder tried to respond, but the words didn't come. Instead, she simply nodded. She knew that her face was screwed up into an ugly mask of overflowing emotions, but she was so happy and relieved that she didn't care very much. If the shaman mice hadn't still been surrounding Spyro, she would have pounced on top of him and hugged him for the rest of her natural life. She forced the impulse down and found herself dancing from one paw to another, suddenly unsure of what to do with her wings.

"I'm glad you're okay," Spyro said, his voice a little bit louder. His single opened eye finally moved away from Cynder's face and regarded the beings that surrounded him. "Mice?"

Nodding, Cynder let out a nearly-hysterical giggle. "They've been healing you," she said, almost forgetting to mentally kick herself for letting her voice crack so much.

Spyro's brows furrowed. "How long has it been?"

"Don't worry about that," Cynder said, a little too quickly. Spyro's eye widened a little bit, but Cynder simply shook her head again and placed a paw on his neck. "All you need to worry about now is getting rest," she cooed, stroking the dusty scales behind his jaw.

"I've gotten enough rest," Spyro said, shifting slightly. The shaman mice opened their eyes and scurried away from the sudden movement, their little hearts beating visibly in their furry chests. Before Cynder could chastise him, though, a pained grunt escaped Spyro's throat, and his limbs went limp again as he slumped back onto his side. "Maybe I need a little more rest," he mumbled.

Cynder allowed herself a giggle, although the sound was tinged with worry. "It's all okay now," she assured, glancing at the healers and nodding. The hesitantly moved back to Spyro's side, and after a few furtive glances around his body, closed their eyes and pressed their tiny hands onto his scales, which began to glow again after a few seconds. "There's no one left for us to fight, and there's nobody that needs saving," she continued, laying down with a relieved smile. "We're finally done."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Spyro's mouth as his eyelid slowly closed. His breathing became slow and regular, and a peaceful look rested upon his face.

* * *

Flame and Ember walked side-by-side down the halls towards the room of visions. Flame was surprised to see the halls deserted; dinner was over at the dining hall, and he figured that there would be dragons milling about and chatting on nearly every horizontal surface in the temple. Ember had simply shrugged when he verbalized his observation.

Just outside the doors of the room of visions, two dragons sat on the floor, neither of them talking. Both of them had glanced upwards as Flame and Ember had turned the corner in the hallway, and Flame had waved with a wing, but only the green Earth dragon had returned it. The small white dragon, who was about Ember's size, simply stared at the two of them, cocking her head as they got closer.

"How many dragons did the Guardians call for?" The white dragoness said as Flame and Ember approached.

"Are you guys here for that too?" Flame said, cocking his head and glancing at Ember.

"'Meet us in the room of visions directly after dinner; there's something we wish to discuss with you'," the white dragoness recited. "Wonder if there's any more dragons coming." She pursed her lips, cocking her head for a moment. "There's something going on inside; we should probably head in. But first," she said, standing up and trotting in front of Flame and Ember, "I'm Astrid. Yes, I'm a Spirit dragon, yes, I'm blind, no, I don't have a breath ability, yes, I can still fight, and yes, I'll notice if you stare." She dipped her head graciously. "Good to meet both of you.

"I'm Ember," the pink dragoness said without missing a beat. "I'm a Fire dragon, and it's good to meet you too." She returned the shallow bow.

"Uh," Flame stuttered for a moment. "I'm Flame, and I'm also a Fire dragon." He glanced over towards Ember, who still had her head bowed politely, and wondered if it even mattered if he bowed. Deciding to err on the side of politeness, Flame dipped his head, trying not to notice that Astrid's eyes had a milky-white sheen, and he couldn't even tell what color her eyes were.

"And this is Gravenstein, although he tells me he likes to just be called Graves," Astrid said, extending a wing towards the large Earth dragon, who dipped his head in greeting as well. "Shall we?" Astrid pivoted on one foot, taking a single step towards the doors. As soon as the other three dragons began to move towards the door, the pearlescent white dragoness began to trot towards the double-doors. She reared up on her back paws and brought her front paws in front of her chest, before quickly spreading them apart and letting herself fall back down onto all fours.

Flame quirked a brow at Astrid for a split second before the doors to the room of visions began to open seemingly on its own to reveal a surprised-looking trio of Guardians. "Oh!" Volteer exclaimed, dipping his head for a quick second at the four young dragons as they entered the room. He and the other two Guardians sat down on the color-coded cushions that represented their element. "And all four of you are here! Excellent."

"We appreciate the punctuality," Cyril said with a short nod, a proud grin spreading across his face. "Let's get right down to business, shall we?" The assembled young dragons exchanged quick glances before nodding their assent, sitting down behind the empty red cushion and looking up at their elders.

"We've chosen the four of you because you excelled at one or more of the three portions of the exam," Volteer began, motioning with a forepaw as he spoke, "And before I go any further, bear in mind that this task is completely voluntary. Should you choose to do so, you may decline and go about the beginnings of your studies here with no repercussions, discipline, or hard feelings from any of us."

"If you choose to do this, you will have to take remedial classes and training to catch up on the things that you will miss," Cyril interjected. "Some of you more than others," he added, and although he hadn't looked at Flame when he spoke, the young fire-breather was positive that the Ice Guardian was talking about him.

"At any rate," Terrador interjected, causing Volteer's words to die in his mouth, "We chose the four of you to form a search party. We want you to seek out and bring back Spyro and Cynder."

Flame raised his brows in surprise. "_The _Spyro and Cynder? They haven't shown up yet?" He blurted, causing the other three young dragons to glance over at him.

"Indeed they haven't," Cyril said, a somber look on his face. "We haven't had any sort of contact with either of them since Malefor's defeat, and we're beginning to think that they may have found themselves in some sort of trouble."

"Which is why all four of you will be going," Terrador said with an assertive nod. "I know that none of you know each other, but each of you will need to watch each others' backs and keep each other safe."

"Ember," Volteer said, looking directly at the pink dragoness, "You were chosen for your sharp mind and vast pool of knowledge. Use it well, to keep your allies from danger."

"Astrid and Gravenstein," Cyril said, looking at each of them in turn, "You were both chosen for your strategic minds; work together to keep yourselves and the other two out of danger before it has the chance to rear its ugly head." The Ice Guardian addressed Astrid directly: "And while I hope you don't have to use them, your healing abilities will be indispensable."

"And Flame," Terrador rumbled, his withering stare falling upon the young fire-breather, "You were chosen for your unrivaled prowess in combat. Be the spear of your friends, and cut down anything that threatens their safety." The massive Earth Guardian rolled his shoulders and drew himself up to his full height. "As long as each of you plays to your respective strengths, there will be nothing that can stand in your way."

The room fell silent. Flame tried to swallow, but his mouth had become completely dry and he barely managed to choke down a coughing fit. He cautioned a quick glance over towards Ember, and saw that she appeared tense, but there was a certain fire in her eyes that had only seen when she had declared that she was going to help him study. Flame stifled a snort; it seemed like he and Ember had stayed up throughout the entire night studying weeks ago, but it hadn't even been twenty-four hours.

"Do any of you have any questions?" Cyril asked, sweeping his gaze among the assembled youngsters. Ember raised a forepaw, and he nodded at her to give her permission to speak.

"Do we have any idea as to where Spyro and Cynder might be?" She asked, using a tone of voice that Flame had never heard her use before.

"Ah," Cyril said with a knowing smirk, "Volteer and I have been working on a device that will be of some use. It should be ready by the time we send you out first thing tomorrow morning."

The young Guardian candidates exchanged glances, each of them wondering if the others had another question. After a few moments of silence, Terrador shuffled his wings and announced, "There is a room that the four of you can stay in for the night; it would be wise for the four of you to get to know each other before you head out tomorrow." The Earth Guardian thumped his tail against the stone floor twice, and a few seconds later, an old-looking mole scampered across the floor and gave a quick, deep bow to the assembled dragons. "Greta will show you the way."

"Both Cyril and I will be in the workshop for quite a while," Volteer added just as the young dragons had stood up to leave. "If any of you have any questions, comments, concerns, queries, or conundrums for us, feel free to stop by."


	4. Chapter 4

Graves sat idly on one of the plush beds in the large room that he and the others had been given to stay in for the night, his clubbed tail curled comfortably around his legs. The room was hexagonal with a high, domed ceiling that was intricately carved with lines of prayers to the Ancestors. Graves wasn't very familiar with the ancient script, but he was fairly certain that the words were ones that wished for wellbeing and bravery.

Six beds sat against each of the six walls, and a thick circular rug with a handful of thin cushions on top of it decorated the center of the room. A few multicolored tapestries and curtains, each of them bearing the color of one of the main elements of the Guardians, hung from the stone moulding just below the ceiling.

After Ember had made a quick visit to the temple's healers to get her injuries patched up, she and Astrid had paired off and had been comparing experiences from the entrance exam. As Graves idly watched them, though, he suspected that the hushed conversation had turned away from academia, if their occasional giggles were any indication.

Flame had staked his claim on the bed next to Graves's and had been watching the two females talk as well. Graves glanced over at Flame every now and then, and he knew that as the older of the two he should be the one to initiate conversation, but no words came to his head. _You're supposed to be making friends with these three, _Graves told himself, and his stomach and shoulders tensed slightly as he tried to think of something to say. _Nothing's gonna happen if you don't say something. _

"So what village are you from, Graves?" Flame said suddenly, causing Graves to mentally kick himself for being so incapable of starting a conversation.

"I'm from the orchards underneath Tall Plains, pretty far to the west of here," Graves replied quickly, shoving his annoyance with himself to the back of his head. "My folks hid my egg there when the Great War started going south and raised me and my brothers there."

"Oh, you've got siblings?"

"Used to, yeah."

Flame cocked his head in confusion for a minute before a realization dawned on him. "_Oh_. Cynder?"

"Cynder."

"She's not under the Dark Master's control anymore, though."

"Doesn't make Quake and Rumble any less dead." The corners of Flame's mouth drooped downwards, and Graves mentally kicked himself again for immediately killing the conversation as soon as it had started. "I was raised around the atlawas, though, and they're really tight-knit. As far as I'm concerned, I've got a couple hundred members of my family."

"Woah," Flame said, sounding impressed. His frown had almost disappeared, and his head was tilted curiously. "I've never met an atlawa before."

"They're good folks. Tend to keep to themselves, though, and they're not very friendly to folks they don't know. Once they like you, though, they'll be some of the best friends anybody could ever ask for." Graves shrugged. "Where are you from, though?"

"I'm from the canyon wastes, to the north of Malefor Mountain," Flame said. "We got lucky, I guess; the dark armies apparently didn't think anybody lived there. As a matter of fact, there were never many visitors or travelers, friendly or otherwise."

"Sounds pretty hot and dusty," Graves commented.

"You're not kidding," Flame chortled, closing his eyes and shaking his head for a second. "I won the lottery by being a Fire dragon, though. My cousin's an Ice dragon, and she hated every single second that she lived there. She moved up to Glacierscar a couple years ago; seems like a better fit for her."

Graves raised his brows in surprise. "She flew around with the dark army running all over the place?"

"She only flew at night," Flame said, waving a forepaw dismissively before a somber look came over his face. "At least, she said that she would… Nobody's heard anything from her since she left, and everything's been happening so quickly lately that nobody from my family's had a chance to take a trip up there." His expression fell a little bit more. "She might not even know that the Dark Master's been defeated."

"She made it safe and sound," Graves said confidently, hoping that his positivity would be at least a little bit contagious.

The worried mask that Flame wore cracked slightly, and the ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth before disappearing again. "How can you be so sure?" He asked, cocking his head and narrowing his eyes at him.

"She's related to you, isn't she?" Graves cracked an eyebrow at the cherry-red Fire dragon.

"Well… yeah."

"Then she can take care of herself." Graves nodded with a sense of finality. He wore a resolute mask, but a squirming feeling began to make itself known in his gut. If he was being honest with himself, the Earth dragon had no idea if Flame's purported strength ran in the family. The confident words that he had spoken suddenly tasted sour on his tongue, and he had to resist the urge to restlessly work his tongue inside his mouth to rid himself of the bitterness. _Then again, _Graves considered, _Nobody's just __**born **__knowing how to fight well enough to impress a Guardian, much less one that's seen as much fighting as Terrador. There must've been at least some sort of training that they did back at their home… _

"Thanks, Graves," Flame's relieved words brought the Earth dragon out of his reverie, and he looked up to see that Flame's face had broken out into a smile. "Maybe Spyro and Cynder ended up in Glacierscar, and I could stop by for a visit."

"It's an awfully big world," Graves said quickly, suddenly worried that he had instilled a little too much confidence in the fire breather. "I wouldn't get my hopes up too high about that."

Flame's smile fell slightly at Graves's words, but it didn't disappear completely. "You're right," he said, punctuating his words with a gigantic yawn. The Fire dragon's eyelids had been drooping downwards at a steady pace ever since their meeting with the Guardians, and Graves felt his own energy flagging.

Graves had practically flown through the entrance exam, which was one of the reasons that he was chosen to help Astrid with the written portion of her own exam. The day had been long and full, though, and it was at least an hour past his usual bedtime. "I'm willing to bet that we're gonna have an early morning tomorrow, so it'd probably be best to get some sleep," he announced, allowing himself an enormous yawn.

"Ew, Graves; cover your yawns," Astrid chastised, wrinkling her nose at him from across the room. "He's probably right, although I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to calm down enough to get to sleep anytime soon."

"I know, right?" Ember said with an excited titter. "Not only did we all pass the exam, and we did so well that we impressed the Guardians, but we're getting sent on an important mission to find the _literal _saviors of the _entire _world." A visible shudder ran up her spine. "It's _objectively _exciting."

"Still," Graves said with a shake of his head, "The sooner we get to sleep, the easier it'll be to get up tomorrow morning." He laid down on the soft mattress, curling himself up into a tight ball to lead by example.

Ember and Astrid shared a begrudging shrug while Flame mirrored Graves and laid down on his own bed. Ember hopped onto the floor and walked the handful of paces over to the raised tile on the wall next to the door. She pushed the tile inwards, and the small magical lamps that lit the room dimmed until the room was in near-complete darkness.

Graves lowered his eyelids until they were all but closed, watching Ember climb back onto her own bed and lay down. He lay perfectly still for a while, waiting and watching for the other three dragons to fall asleep. Flame succumbed to the velvety blanket of sleep after five minutes or so, and was quickly followed into the realm of dreams by Ember. Astrid laid just as still as Graves, but as he watched, her eyes slowly opened. A small chill ran down his spine as her eyes locked with his; the milky-white cataracts on the surface of her eyes seemed to almost glow in the dark.

"Hypocrite," Astrid whispered, her words barely louder than the rhythmic breathing of the two Fire dragons.

A small smile lifted the corners of Graves's mouth as he shrugged with his wings. "You a night owl?" He whispered back to her, glancing over at the two sleeping dragons to make sure he didn't disturb them.

"Not by choice," Astrid whispered, and Graves could see her rolling her eyes as she sat up in her bed for a moment before slowly climbing down. Graves raised an eyebrow as the Spirit dragon crossed the room and sat down in front of his bed. "Stupid Ancestors are really talkative tonight."

Graves blinked in surprise, taking care to ensure that his face remained a neutral mask. His family had raised him in a very traditional fashion, which included utter respect and reverence for the Ancestors, and hearing Astrid talking about them in such a dismissive fashion rubbed him the wrong way. "What're they saying?"

"The usual," Astrid whispered, motioning with a flippant paw. "Singing songs about Spyro, whispering about danger, offering advice, all that fun stuff." She scoffed. "I wish they'd go to sleep at night so that I could get some peace and quiet."

Graves raised his head off of the pillow. "If the Ancestors are talking about danger…" He trailed off, concerned, until Astrid broke out into a fit of quiet, dry giggles."

"The Ancestors have been whispering warnings into the Aether ever since there've been Ancestors around," Astrid laughed quietly, shaking her pearly-white head. "Most of it's stuff that won't even happen anyways. Apparently, they can see different possibilities in the future. And I mean _every _possibility, including one where Spyro and Ignitus ended up falling in love and getting married."

Graves blinked in surprise. "They told you that might've happened?"

Astrid burst into another fit of giggles, clamping a paw over her mouth to keep herself quiet. "It was just a random example that I made up." Her smile faded somewhat, but still remained. "In my honest opinion, it's not much to worry about. The Ancestors talk about me stubbing my toe as I get up in the morning before it happens."

"Danger is always something to worry about," Graves noted.

The corners of Astrid's mouth twitched upwards as she narrowed her eyes up at the larger Earth dragon for a moment. "Seems like you've got a pretty big protective streak there, big guy," she whispered. She tried to shove Graves on the shoulder, but the difference in mass was so large that she only ended up pushing herself away from him. "Ancestors, you're sturdy."

"It's the duty of the strong to protect the weak," Graves breathed, reciting the modus operandi that his father had drilled into his head from the very day that he had hatched.

Astrid opened her mouth with a wry smirk, seemingly about to tease him, but closed it again after a second or two of consideration. "A good philosophy to live by." She quirked a brow at Graves as he let out a massive yawn. Remembering her rebuke from earlier, he quickly raised a paw and covered his mouth. "Well, I'll keep watch while I listen to all the ways that a bad egg might give us some stomach cramps, and make sure that no shadow demons try and kill us in our sleep. Get some rest, big guy." A genuine smile spread across her face, and Graves laid his head back down on his pillow.

Astrid stood up again and walked over to the cushions in the middle of the room and sat on one of them. Graves idly wondered if it was her coloration that made her seem to almost glow in the dim lighting, or if it was some quality unique to Spirit dragons. He knew almost nothing about Spirit dragons, although he was beginning to piece together a few of their abilities: they could sense other beings around them, and they could move and interact with objects without touching them.

"Hey," Astrid whispered harshly, "You're supposed to be asleep. Go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am," Graves mumbled quietly, a small smirk spreading across his face. "You make sure you get plenty of sleep too."

"Yes sir," Astrid whispered back to him, stifling another titter.


	5. Chapter 5

Flame was slowly roused from his deep and comfortable slumber by the sounds of movement in the room. Not feeling up to moving yet, he cracked an eye open and surveyed the hexagonal room that he and the other three Guardian trainees had been given for the night. The blurry room slowly came into focus as he lethargically blinked the sleep from his eyes. Graves seemed to be missing, but Astrid and Ember were in the middle of the room, both of them holding a strange pose that made the young Fire dragon's heart beat a little bit faster.

Both girls were facing towards the door, with Flame's bed directly to their left. Flame watched from his curled-up position on his comfortable mattress as Astrid coached Ember on different poses. One minute, they were holding a pose that looked as though they were praying, balancing on their hind legs and pressing both forepaws together in front of their chests. The next minute, they had both extended their wings outwards and were using them to steady themselves as they balanced on their forearms, their tails pointed towards the ceiling. Ember's balance faltered a few times until she ungracefully fell back onto all four paws, her breaths coming in short huffs.

"This is a lot more physical than I thought it'd be," Ember commented, rearing up onto her hind legs and rolling her shoulders in their sockets.

"There's only a couple more in this form," Astrid giggled as she crossed her front paws in front of herself and stuck her rear into the air, looking very much like a stretching cat.

"What's this set of positions called?" Ember asked, doing her best to copy the white Spirit dragoness.

"This is the Sun form," she replied, "Also known as 'Widdle Baby's First Form'."

Ember burst into a fit of strained giggles. "It is _not _called that."

"Are you questioning an all-seeing Spirit dragon?" Astrid stuck her bottom lip out, lowering her head as though she was hurt.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Ember grunted, exertion clear in her voice, "This is definitely a good way to wake yourself up."

Flame closed the single eye that he had open, a pit of shame sinking into his stomach like a rock. He knew very well that it wasn't polite to ogle anyone, particularly when they weren't aware of his gaze, but the small voice in the back of his head that told him to open his eye again continued to grow louder and louder until he simply couldn't ignore it.

The instant that he began to crack his eye open again, though, something sharply slapped his snout, making him jump an inch or two into the air in surprise. He wrinkled his nose and looked around on his mattress for an insect or anything else that might have hurt his sensitive snout, but found none.

"Oh, you're awake," Ember said, sounding surprised as she returned to a normal standing position. "Morning, Flame."

"Yes, good morning," Astrid added, an oddly smug look on her face. As Flame glanced over at her, she quirked her brow at him as though she was challenging him.

Astrid's expression confused Flame for a second or two before he remembered what she had told him when they had first met: "_I'll notice if you stare_," she had said. Realizing that he had been well and truly caught, Flame did his best to fake a yawn and sat completely up in bed. "Mornin'," he greeted as casually as he could, a pit of guilt clinking against the pit of shame as it fell into his stomach as well. "Where's Graves?"

"He said he was getting breakfast for everybody," Ember replied, motioning towards the door with her head. "He oughta be back any minute, though."

"What time is it?"

"We've got about forty-five minutes until we need to meet with the Guardians so they can send us off," Astrid said, her expression returning to normal as soon as Ember's head turned in her direction. "Glad you're awake, though; you can do some yoga with us," she added, her wry grin nonverbally telling Flame that he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Oh," Flame said quickly, stretching for a few seconds before sheepishly hopping off of his bed and taking a position next to the sleek Spirit dragoness.

"I think I'm pretty yoga-ed out," Ember announced with a chuckle. "I still need to be able to fly today. I'm gonna go see if Graves needs help carrying anything."

As Ember closed the stone door behind herself, Astrid slowly turned her head towards Flame, who took a step backwards from her. He wasn't entirely sure what a Spirit dragon could do, but he had a hunch that they could do much more than yoga and flicking noses. After all, Astrid had passed Terrador's portion of the entrance exam, and Flame was fairly certain that she didn't defeat the golem by doing yoga poses at it.

"How old are you?" Astrid asked after he had stewed in his own worries for a few moments.

Flame blinked, surprised at the question: he had expected to be reprimanded or flicked again. "I'm sixteen," he said, unsure of what she was getting at.

Astrid's brows raised. "They let dragons _that _young be in the Guardian program?" She drew her head back in surprise. "Ancestors, you're but a wee little baby."

"You can't be _that _much older than me," Flame huffed.

"Both Ember and I are eighteen, and Graves is twenty," Astrid replied, taking the catlike stretching position that she had been in before she had flicked Flame in the nose. She jabbed Flame in the side with a wingtip to encourage him to mirror her. "Just remember to mind your manners, or I just might have to reinforce them." A gentle, motherly smile spread across her face, but Flame could have sworn that he saw a glimmer of gleeful sadism in her milky-white eyes.

"I will," Flame promised, stifling a grunt as the tendons and ligaments in his shoulders and hind legs stretched uncomfortably.

"Especially if you're doing something that raises your heart rate, or make a lot of hormones get released, or-"

"I get it," Flame said quickly, cutting off the white dragoness as a tiny streams of steam began to waft from his cheeks.

"Good," Astrid said, smirking. "And just in time, too; the others are back with breakfast."

Narrowing his eyes, Flame was about to ask how Astrid knew that the others were back, but before the words had a chance to leave his mouth, the door opened again to reveal a pink dragoness and a dark green dragon. Both of them were laden with platters of steaming food, and Flame absentmindedly wondered how Graves had managed to carry so much before Ember had started helping him. Keeping his questions to himself, Flame made himself busy helping the platters disembark from their draconic steeds.

* * *

"So have you heard from anybody?" Spyro asked, sitting shakily at the mouth of the cave next to his companion.

The rising sunlight filtered through the grove of gigantic trees that hid the mouth of the small cave. A veritable cacophony of frog, insect, and bird songs reverberated through the trunks of the old trees, creating a white noise that lay over the hidden grove like a thick blanket. A few butterflies and bees clumsily bumbled around the smattering of flowers and mushrooms that grew on the ground.

In Spyro's opinion, there had never been a more perfect or beautiful morning.

"Not a word," Cynder said with a snappy shake of her head. "Although I haven't been looking very hard, if I'm being honest with you. I've been staying busy by keeping a few predators away from this cave to 'pay' the mice for taking care of us. Which was nice, because I would've had to hunt for myself anyways." She snorted. "By the way: don't ever eat a rattlesnake. _Awful_ flavor."

"So I fall asleep for a couple weeks, and you turn into a mercenary?" Spyro clicked his tongue and shook his head. "For shame, Cynder. I thought you were above that."

"First of all, I've gotta repay our debts somehow," Cynder giggled, shrugging innocently. "Second, it's called _bounty hunting_, and it's a noble profession. And I wasn't able to convince the mice that you were some sort of art piece, and in reality they should be paying _me _for the honor, so I had to think of _something_."

Spyro smirked and shook his head, although his smile faded after a few seconds. "We should at least let the others know we're okay," he said. He frowned, the scales on his tail scraping audibly on the smooth stone floor as he idly swished it back and forth. Before Cynder could reply, though, he flinched as though he had been struck as he realized something. "And Sparx!" He exclaimed, groaning. "The little guy's probably worried sick about us."

"Mostly you, I think," Cynder laughed. "But thanks to Malefor being gone, I think the others' lists of things to worry about has been cleared off for the time being." A content smile rested on her face, although it fell slightly as she noticed Spyro's forelegs shaking a little bit. "You should lie down," she said, worry coloring her voice.

"I've gotta get my strength back somehow," Spyro said with a flippant wave of his paw. He shifted more of his weight onto his rump, helping to alleviate some of the weight that his forelegs were supporting. "It's not good to lounge around after a big meal anyways. Thanks for hunting breakfast for me, by the way. _And _dinner last night."

"No problem," Cynder said, a concerned look crossing her face for a split second before it disappeared. "Shame we didn't have any salt or herbs to put on it, though."

"When you haven't eaten in a long time, _anything _tastes good. I'm pretty sure I would've even eaten that rattlesnake." Spyro laughed openly.

"I'm still not sure how you managed to go so long without eating," Cynder said with a shake of her head. "I brought a couple scraps of meat and tried to feed you, but the healer mice just sorta shooed me away. I figured they knew what they were doing, but it still made me worry a little."

Spyro gave a sympathetic smile, but he knew Cynder well enough to know when she was covering up the truth. He knew for a fact that she was underselling the amount of worry and concern that she had endured during his recovery, and while he appreciated her trying to spare his feelings, an icy pang of guilt still stabbed him in the stomach. If their roles had been reversed, Spyro was fairly certain that he would have literally worried himself sick. "I'm sorry I made you worry so much," he said quietly.

"I survived," Cynder said with a mirthless chuckle, tossing a flippant forepaw.

_She's deflecting, _Spyro noted, taking it as a bad sign. He floundered, trying to think of something to say, but the noise of the insects and birds reigned supreme as a large lull appeared in their conversation. "Thanks for waiting for me," he said after a minute or so, apparently surprising his companion.

"'Waiting for you'? What's that supposed to mean?" Cynder asked, cocking her head at him.

"Well, I mean…" Spyro started, but stopped as he realized he wasn't sure what he was going to say. He internally shouted at his brain to conjure up the right words to say so that Cynder would know what he meant, but his mind remained irritatingly blank. "You said that you'd be with me, back when we were fighting Malefor. And you kept that promise by waiting for me to wake up, even though I'm sure that it wasn't easy. And it probably looked like I wasn't gonna wake up, after a while."

Cynder's mouth opened and closed a few times, a syllable coming out of her mouth every now and then, before she finally said, "A promise is a promise."

The force in her words comforted Spyro, although he couldn't quite pinpoint the exact reason. A feeling that was like a mixture of companionship, affection, and comfort bloomed in his chest, making his cheeks slightly warm. "I should be able to travel again in a few days; hopefully sooner," Spyro said after a minute or so, trying not to dwell on the strange feeling that Cynder made him feel for too long.

"Don't try and rush it," Cynder warned, a concerned glint in her eyes.

"I won't; I promise," Spyro said with a smile. "And a promise is a promise."

"Good," Cynder said with a curt nod, mirroring his smile. "For now, though, you're gonna lay back down until I'm convinced that you're not about to pass out or anything."

Spyro opened his mouth to argue, but a sudden shudder in his right foreleg nearly made the limb collapse underneath him. He gave a sheepish grin as he shakily stood and allowed Cynder to lead him out of the cave and into a sunny spot in the grass. The grass was a bright, verdant green, and looked as soft as any goose-down bed that Spyro had ever slept in. The massive trees overhead creaked every now and then as a gentle breeze maneuvered its way through their trunks. Cynder turned around once or twice and laid down in the grassy patch, the tip of her tail flicking back and forth as she looked at him expectantly. Opening his mouth in a massive yawn, Spyro unceremoniously rolled onto his side and curled up next to her, thinking that a morning nap sounded delightful.

* * *

**The typo demon lingers. **


	6. Chapter 6

Astrid kept her head held high as she climbed the spiral staircase behind Graves. Flame and Ember followed behind her; the staircase that led up the narrow tower was just barely wide enough to allow a fully-grown dragon to climb, and was much too narrow for any of the teenaged dragons to ascend in anything but single-file.

The white dragoness's breaths came out in short huffs. She tried not to let herself grow too worried; she knew very well that she wasn't a marathon runner or flier, but if the way that the stairs made her lose her breath was any indication, then she might have some trouble keeping up with the others on their impending long flights. _Guess a whole childhood of meditating in front of fountains and studying scrolls doesn't build much stamina, _she begrudgingly admitted to herself, wondering how many more stairs were left before they reached the top.

Just as she was about to ask one of the others if they saw the top, she stumbled slightly as her left forepaw reached for a stair that wasn't there. Wrinkling her snout, she mentally kicked herself for not paying more attention to her surroundings. Blinking uselessly a few times, Astrid expanded her perception.

Using the ability specific to Spirit dragons, Astrid's ever-present aura of magic began to interact directly with the world around her. She had been blind since she had hatched, but as far as she was concerned, she could 'see' just as well as any other dragon. She could tell that the top of the tower was flat and more or less open to the elements, with a small spired roof that only covered the inner part of the round platform that she and the others were standing on. She could see the trace amounts of Earth magic in the platform, telling her that it was made out of some sort of stone, and there was a bird sitting on its nest hidden up in the beams of the roof. Two of the three eggs were close to hatching, but one of the eggs was already dead.

She could 'see' seven life forces: three Guardians, three of her friends, and one life force that was unfamiliar to her, each of them with their own unique 'appearance'. The Guardians, having spent so much time honing their element, had a distinct tinge to their life force: Volteer's was a golden-yellow, Cyril shone with a bright, icy blue that was almost white, and Terrador's life force had a calm, steady green aura. Each of the life forces pulsed ever-so-slightly each time their heart beat, and if she focused, Astrid could even 'see' the aches from the Guardians' old war injuries.

She could feel her cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she noticed Flame staring at her, glancing down at her paws every now and then. "I'm fine, thanks," she huffed, taking a few deep breaths, "Just zoned out a little bit."

"Sorry," Flame muttered as he backed away somewhat, before the four of them formed a straight line in front of the three guardians.

Astrid frowned. The additional life force that she noticed hovered above the ground near Terrador's head, which was very unusual. She was used to dealing with terrestrial creatures, and she wondered if it was some sort of bird, but dismissed the notion almost immediately. The life force was small, but it shone just as brightly as any dragon's, rather than the dull, animalistic flicker of a bird. Whatever it was, it was definitely sapient. She also noticed a curiously large amount of magic stored nearby, presumably a crystal, but soundly ignored it as the Guardians began speaking.

"Thank you all for coming," Volteer greeted them warmly. "And on time, to boot! Excellent, and I _do _mean simply splendid."

"We won't keep you for very long; we would like you to take to the skies as soon as possible," Terrador rumbled, and Astrid could have sworn she felt the stone floor vibrating underneath her paws as he spoke. "We only have some instructions and some advice."

"'Won't take long'," an unfamiliar voice mocked with a scoff, causing Astrid to cock her head at the source: the life force that hovered next to Terrador's head. She racked her brains in an attempt to figure out what species the speaker could be, but it was apparently a creature that she hadn't 'seen' very much of before.

"Astrid," Cyril said, and Astrid hesitated for a split second before stepping forwards between the line of Guardians and the line of trainees. "This is the device that we hope will lead you directly to Spyro." Astrid watched as Cyril's cool blue life force turned to a table that was next to him, grabbed the bundle of stored magical energy, and presented it to her.

Astrid leaned back, resting her weight on her haunches, and took the device from Cyril, inspecting it carefully.

The device seemed to be a simple one: a single large, flat crystal the size of Astrid's paw sat in the middle of a metal ring, suspended by the surprising amount of magical energy it contained. She focused her perception on it, and she could feel the crystal sucking up a tiny amount of energy, processing it, and dissipating it throughout the ring. The device utterly fascinated the Spirit dragon, and nothing would have pleased her more than to spend hours on end dismantling it and figuring out exactly how it worked.

"This device, in so few words, will point you in the direction of Spyro-and, hopefully, Cynder," Cyril continued, tearing Astrid's attention away from the captivating object in her paws, "Provided Volteer and I did our jobs correctly, you should be able to see a node on the ring that will point you in the direction of Spyro whenever you 'look' at it with your special 'sight'." Astrid noticed that Cyril made air quotes with the tips of his wings.

Cocking her head downwards at the device, Astrid focused her perception on the ring, and sure enough, there was a miniscule node at the edge of the ring. "It's really faint, but I see it!"

"Aha, it works!" Volteer exclaimed, his paws thudding against the floor as the elder dragon hopped from paw to paw. "Absolutely titillating, fascinating, _thrilling_-"

"Great," the unfamiliar voice grumbled, interrupting the excited Lightning Guardian. "Can we go find Spyro now?"

"It won't be much longer, my dear dragonfly," Cyril said calmly, shaking his head. "The node should grow stronger the closer you get to him, but the crystal will need to be recharged every morning in order for it to continue working. It should be no issue at all for a dragon with _your _capabilities, though."

_So it's a dragonfly, _Astrid mused, almost forgetting that she had just been paid a compliment. "Thank you, Master Cyril. Looks like he's in that direction," she said, pointing with a wing to her right.

"Hm, northwards," Volteer said thoughtfully. "At any rate, I believe _these _may be of use." Volteer's life force drew near Astrid and he held something out in his paws for her. She took it and realized that it was a bag, presumably for holding the Spyro-locating device, but she noticed that it was already partially filled. "A few emergency rations, some rope, torches, et cetera. If the four of you are having trouble finding food wherever you are, take one of the condensed pills with plenty of water. It will give an entire day's worth of energy, but try not to take them more than one or two days in a row."

Astrid nodded, and she idly noticed that each of her companions had been handed similar, bags, which they all cinched around their bellies just in front of their hind legs. The bag had two main pockets that were easy to reach with their front paws, but Astrid frowned as she realized that she would have to keep the heavy Spyro-locator in one of the two pockets, which was sure to throw off her balance while she was flying.

"A few words of advice, before the four of you leave," Terrador said as soon as Astrid had stowed the crystal device in her right pack. "We do not expect you all to take very long to get back to us, but if you see an urgent need, do _not _pass it by. In a worst-case scenario, send a messenger of some sort to us and let us know of your delay. Punctuality is good, but helping others is infinitely more important. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Master Terrador," the four trainees said in nearly-perfect unison.

"Good," Terrador said with a satisfied nod. "Also: when you get closer to Spyro's location, you may fan out to search for him, but otherwise, you _must _stick together at all times. One dragon on their own is formidable, true, but not unbeatable. The four of you together will be able to create a force to be reckoned with. Use each of your strengths to cover for each others' weaknesses, and work as one unified group. Understood?"

"Yes, Master Terrador," the four trainees said again. Astrid forced a small, confident smile, doing her best to match the expressions that she sensed from her three companions. If she didn't know better, she would say that Terrador almost expected them to run into trouble.

"We don't expect you all to run into very much trouble on your journey," Cyril said, as though reading Astrid's mind, "But just because Malefor is dead doesn't mean that his dark army and those under his command simply faded out of existence. They will be without a leader, scattered, and unorganized, but they will have much, much more combat experience than any of you. Use caution, and remember that there's no shame to retreat and fight another day."

"Don't pick fights, stick together, and don't be snooty, got it," the unfamiliar voice said impatiently. "So can we get going now?"

Astrid quirked her brow at the source, noticing that the Guardians were becoming somewhat annoyed with the voice. "Sorry, I don't think we've been introduced," she said politely, "I'm As-"

"Yeah, you're Astrid, and that's Flame, Ember, and Graves," the voice said impatiently. "Sparx the dragonfly. Pleased as punch to meet you all. Now let's _go_."

A deep, annoyed rumble sounded from Terrador's throat. "Remember what we've told you, and come back to us as soon as you can."

"Fight on, young dragons, against that beautiful and terrible moonlight, so that we may once more seen the sun," Cyril said solemnly, bowing his head to the youngsters in front of him. The other two guardians did much the same, and Astrid bowed her head back to them, keeping her mouth clamped shut. The blessing that Cyril had quoted was from an old epic poem about the band of dragons that led the charge against Malefor after he had returned from his exile with a vengeance. She wasn't sure how it applied to their situation, but she supposed that the old Ice Guardian had noticed it in a scroll and thought it sounded nice.

Still, Astrid knew well-wishes when she heard them. "May the Ancestors watch over you," she said, raising her head and shuffling her wings.

"May they watch over us all," Terrador completed the blessing.

"You three ready?" Graves asked, spreading his wings.

"You mean _four_," Sparx interjected, sounding annoyed. He buzzed over in front of Astrid and sat in between her horns. "I'm coming along too. My brother breaks out in hives if we're apart for too long, and it's been, like, a whole month."

"'Brother'?" Astrid quirked a brow. "You're awful light to be a dragon."

"I'm a dragon_fly_, thank you very much," Sparx snarked. "What are you, blind?"

"Yes."

"Oh… my bad."

Wordlessly, Graves interrupted the two by turning around and breaking out into a gallop towards the northern edge of the tower. He spread his large wings and took flight just as the platform disappeared from underneath his feet. Flame and Ember followed him closely, taking flight and shrinking in Astrid's perception until they seemed to be mere pinpricks of light.

Grumbling about being left behind, Astrid reared up on her hind legs for a second before charging forwards, knocking her uninvited passenger off of her head. She sprinted towards the edge of the platform and began to beat her wings hard as soon as she was airborne. Vaguely aware of Sparx flying alongside her, Astrid bobbed her head in time with her wingbeats as she tried to catch up with her three traveling companions.

* * *

Spyro's eyes snapped open as he jumped to his feet, his breathing quick and labored as though he had been starved of air. His eyes darted between the shadows in the trees, alert for any sign of danger. His mind was an incomprehensible whirl of fear and dread, with flashes of rows upon rows of serrated teeth and too many eyes lingering like afterimages in his vision. His eyes eventually settled on Cynder, who was still sleeping soundly in the patch of lush grass.

Closing his eyes, Spyro took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart. He was not under attack, there was nothing sinister lurking in the shadowed spaces between the tree trunks, and there weren't countless disembodied eyes watching him.

Figuring that he had just had a nightmare, he shook his entire body like a dog ridding itself of water in a vain attempt to clear away the upsetting imagery. _After everything we've been through_, Spyro said to himself, opening his eyes and letting the sight of Cynder's snoozing body fill the center of his field of vision again, _It would be weird for us to __**not **__have nightmares. _Filing his nightmare in the back of his mind, Spyro turned his attention back to the glade, a brave mask on his face. He walked over to the edge of the small clearing and peered into the shadows, systematically dispelling the possibility of any imagined monster that lurked there. _We're safe now, _he told himself, wishing he believed his own inward words.

After Spyro had inspected the area for any sort of danger and come up empty-handed, he realized that he was thirsty. His eyes unfocused as he began to listen to the earth. He was able to quickly isolate the steady trickle of a stream from the usual vibrations of squirrels and birds roaming around, and began to head towards the source of water. _At least I can walk around a little easier now, _he considered, actively trying to look at the bright side of things.

Once he had reached the clear, cool creek, he crouched down and slurped loudly at the liquid, not caring much about propriety or manners. As soon as he had drank his fill, he sat back on his haunches and sighed, wishing the cool water in his belly could wash away the tense ball of worry that sat in his gut like a stone. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, wondering if it was possible for a purple dragon like him to see into the future without a pool of visions to aid him.

Shaking his head, he mentally reprimanded himself. He didn't even know what he wanted or expected to see in a vision of the future. A dark part of his mind told him that his nightmare _was _a vision of the future, and it was alarmingly difficult to shake the thought away.

If Malefor was gone, and both he and Cynder were safe, then why did he feel so nervous about the future?

"You alright?"

Spyro whirled around at the sudden voice before the words even had a chance to register in his head. Flames burst from his jaws as he growled menacingly, his body automatically hunkering down into a fighting stance. His wings spread wide, ready to flap in order to flee or dodge. His startled brain took nearly a full second to recognize the creature in front of him.

Cynder didn't react very much to Spyro's sudden reaction, but his adrenaline-addled brain noticed that she took a step backwards. "Sorry for scaring you," she said, a nearly-imperceptible twitch in her worried smile.

A pang of guilt stabbed Spyro in the gut. He quickly sat down and folded his wings at his sides, lowering his head sheepishly. "Hi."

"You seem pretty on-edge."

"Guess you could say that."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"There's not much left to talk about."

Cynder quirked a brow at him. "Apparently there is, unless you're just practicing your growl."

"Malefor's dead, and we're safe now. I'm fine."

"Spyro," Cynder sighed, sitting next to him. Spyro watched for a moment as her teal eyes tracked a small leaf that floated down the creek, bobbing along with the current. "_I'm_ the queen of not dealing with feelings in a healthy way, and I don't appreciate you trying usurp my throne."

"Come on; you're not _that _bad," Spyro said immediately, shaking his head in denial.

"I made you chase me halfway across the entire country because I couldn't deal with my own guilt," Cynder pointed out flatly.

Spyro opened and closed his mouth a few times, and a few disjointed syllables fell out of it, but after a few seconds he realized that he didn't have much of a counterpoint.

Cynder gave a single chuckle. "Besides: I've been right there with you, fighting and living alongside you. So if anybody's gonna know what you're going through," she said, her voice growing gentle as she placed one of her paws on top of his, "It's probably me."

"I had a nightmare," Spyro mumbled after a moment's hesitation. A scene from his childhood flashed to the forefront of his mind: he had had a nightmare, and his mother had stayed up with him for over an hour, rubbing his snout comfortingly to help him get back to sleep. His cheeks heated up a little bit as embarrassment washed over him.

"Okay," Cynder said, nodding her head encouragingly.

"I don't really remember anything specific from it," he sighed, only half-lying, "But I can't shake the feeling that something bad is coming."

"Maybe it's just because bad things have been happening to you for so long," Cynder mused, her paw flexing slightly on top of Spyro's. "You're just so used to anticipating danger that your brain is stuck in a rut."

"Ancestors; I don't know what's worse," Spyro muttered with a mirthless chuckle, hanging his head. "Either the feeling in my gut is right and there really _is _something bad coming, or I've been… _converted_, I guess, into somebody that can't even function normally. Like I've gotta seek out the darkness in the world and banish it." He sighed, shaking his head. "I just wanna be _done_. Once and for all."

"You're not the only one that can fight against the darkness," Cynder said quietly, sidling over until their shoulders were just barely touching. "If there really is something bad coming, you're not the only one that has to shoulder the burden of defeating it."

Spyro digested his companion's words for a few moments before begrudgingly admitting to himself that every single syllable rang true. "I guess I had just hoped my happily ever after was about to begin," he sighed, suddenly acutely aware of the warmth of Cynder's scales against his. He could feel her shoulders moving ever-so-slightly with each breath she took, and he was dimly aware of the sound of her heartbeat making miniscule vibrations in the earth. Spyro wasn't sure why her heart rate seemed elevated at first, but after a second thought, he realized that it was more than likely because he had whirled on her earlier.

"Maybe it _has _started," Cynder whispered, a hopeful tint coloring her voice.

"Maybe it has," Spyro echoed, lowering his head slightly. He wondered if he should drape a wing around his companion's shoulders, but he decided against it. Instead, he simply continued to sit beside Cynder, and together the pair of them watched the shadows grow longer against the ground. Both of them had a lingering weariness in their hearts and minds, but as the time passed slowly by, the cracks in their courage and resolve began to disappear. An unseen and unfelt energy passed between them as their thoughts turned to each other as their innocent and pure love for one another began to seep into their bones to help heal their bodies and minds.

* * *

**_*Glances at word count*_ **

**I'm gonna blow right past my 60-70k word 'limit', aren't I? **


	7. Chapter 7

The ground stretched out seemingly endlessly beneath the Guardian trainees. The world beneath them seemed almost like an incredibly intricately detailed map that stretched between each of the curved horizons. They could see for dozens of miles thanks to the cloudless afternoon, although the ground beneath them had a slight bluish haze thanks to their dizzying altitude. Graves had suggested they use the air currents that streaked across the sky, and they had managed to travel a staggering distance thanks to their rapid tailwind. The sun had reached its apex nearly two hours previously and had begun its slow trek downwards for its nightly reunion with the western horizon.

Graves had led the way for the vast majority of the flight, with Flame and Ember trailing behind him to either side, and Astrid flying in formation behind Ember. Graves had been glancing backwards at his companions every now and again, and it was very obvious that the marathon flight was taking different tolls on their party. Ember seemed to be taking the long flight the best; her eyes were alert and her head was erect, showing that she had plenty of stamina to spare. Graves was handling the flight slightly worse than Ember; his breaths were still steady, but his mouth was opened slightly to allow himself to take in more air. Flame panted even harder than Graves, and poor Astrid seemed as though she had spent her entire life on the ground.

For all Graves knew, she very well may have.

Graves knew that they would have to find a place to stay for the night before they flew much further. He and Ember may have been able to fly for another six or seven hours, but he was well aware that the other two didn't have the same stamina. His eyes had been scanning the landscape below him for any signs of friendly civilization, but nothing had stuck out to him.

"So where do you think Spyro and Cynder ended up?" Sparx pondered from his perch between Graves's horns. The little dragonfly had flown alongside the dragons for a while, but eventually grew tired and decided to hitch a ride on the Earth dragon's head. Graves didn't mind at first, seeing as one flap of his wings equaled a few dozen flaps of Sparx's, but he quickly found out that the little dragonfly was bound and determined to fill every empty second with words, meaningful or otherwise.

"There's an awful lot of places in this direction," Graves said, not feeling up to conjuring up his mental map of the countryside. "There's a bunch of places they could be."

"I wonder what they're doing," Sparx said as flippantly as he could over the howling wind. "I bet they're probably just flying around and playing tag or something."

"I see," Graves said, nodding slowly and letting the dragonfly's words begin to float into one of his ears and out of the other.

"Just runnin' around, maybe getting into some silly lil' mischief."

"Mm-hm."

"Maybe they ran into a neat tribe of intelligent moss-people."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and the moss people made them their king and queen, and they don't wanna leave the lap of luxury. _That's _why they haven't come back yet."

"Hm."

"Or maybe they're dead and their corpses are already full of maggots, worms, and beetles."

"Mm, maybe."

"Or maybe they're mummified in lava at the center of the earth, and we're just on a wild goose chase trying to find them."

"Oho, I bet."

A sharp pinprick of pain at the back of Graves's head startled him out of the trance he had allowed himself to fall into. "You're supposed to be supportive," Sparx grumbled, ignoring the annoyed growl that his perch had let out. Eyeing the green scale that he had plucked, he said, "I've been freaking out about my brother for _weeks_, and I've gotta get it out somehow, you know? A guy can only manage moles and their construction projects for so long before he goes crazy, y'know?"

"I reckon so," Graves said with a noncommittal shrug. "But you keep calling Spyro your 'brother'; did you two grow up together or something?"

"Yep," Sparx said, sounding suddenly chipper as Graves began to engage a little bit more in the conversation. "Spyro's egg floated down the river right to where mom and pops lived, and then he hatched the same day I did, and then the two of us have been as thick as thieves ever since then." A snicker came from the dragonfly. "Spyro even thought he was a dragonfly until he was… maybe twelve or so? Thirteen, maybe?"

"He thought he was a dragonfly?" Graves quirked a brow, making Sparx shift as his living chaise lounge moved underneath him.

"'Course he did," Sparx snorted. "A really, really big dragonfly, sure, but definitely a dragonfly."

"I don't believe you."

"It took him literally breathing fire to save m-_uhh_, for some reason unrelated to anything to realize that he wasn't quite the same as the rest of us bugs."

"Dragons and dragonflies don't look very similar," Graves pointed out.

"Right; I'm sure you _never _had any sort of identity crisis when you were young," Sparx said matter-of-factly, and Graves could practically hear the little bug rolling his eyes.

Graves was about to say that he absolutely did _not _have an identity crisis when he was young, but a surprisingly-clear memory began to surface in his mind. He had stood up on his hind legs and pressed his front paws into his mother's neck as she was napping, waking her up with no regard for her sleep. He had bluntly asked her when his fur would start to grow in like his atlawa friends, to which his only answer was a sleepy chuckle. Graves snapped his mouth shut and hoped that Sparx would drop the subject.

"I see the canyonlands!" Flame suddenly hollered over the wind, saving Graves from having to dwell on his own uncomfortable realization. The cherry-red fire-breather moved up a little bit in the formation and pointed towards the northern horizon, where an enormous craggy scar in the landscape could be seen. "We could stop there for the night; there's plenty of space in the dens with my family."

Graves didn't have to consider Flame's proposition for very long. It would only take another hour or so for them to reach the canyonlands, and having shelter and friendly faces around would go a long way in ensuring that group morale stayed high. "We'll stop at the canyonlands for the night," the Earth dragon announced, his voice booming so that the other three could hear him. The wind was loud in his ears, but he could have sworn he heard a dismayed groan from Astrid. "It'll only be another twenty minutes," he lied through his teeth, hoping that lie detection wasn't one of the Spirit dragoness's abilities.

* * *

The four dragons skidded to a stop on the smooth sandstone of the main canyon's rim. Ember winced as a few pebbles and grains of sand attacked the undersides of her sensitive paws. Her jaw hung open slightly as she breathed heavily, and she could already feel the hot precursors to blisters making themselves known underneath her bags. She could tell that her wings and flight muscles would definitely be sore in a few short hours' time. As she began to catch her breath, she began to take stock of the rest of her companions.

_Poor Astrid, _Ember thought with a nearly-imperceptible shake of her head. The Spirit dragon was recovering from her own landing, which had ended with her doing a very convincing impression of a scorpion with her tail nearly touching the ground right in front of her chin. Ember noticed that Astrid's tongue, which was lolling out of her mouth as she shakily drew herself back to her feet, was bright red.

Ember turned and tapped Graves on the shoulder with a wingtip and covertly let him know that they needed to find shade and water as quickly as possible. The temperature at their cruising altitude had been comfortably brisk, but once they had descended into the desert canyonlands, the air had quickly became extremely hot and extremely dry.

Graves nodded silently in response before calling Flame over to his side. Flame had mentioned that there was a secret entrance to his home, so Ember assumed that Graves wanted him to lead him there. Sparx continued to lounge on Graves's head, leaving Ember and Astrid alone on the rim of the enormous canyon.

Ember had never been to the canyonlands before, and she was quickly able to recall a few facts about it from reference books that she had skimmed through, but she had never imagined their actual size. She knew how big they were; they were ten miles wide and up to a mile deep in some places, but she didn't _know _how big they were. Craning her neck and looking down over the rim made her wingtips reflexively twitch; the dizzying height activated her flying instincts even while her feet were planted firmly against the ground.

Bare sand, sandstone, and dirt covered the vast majority of the landscape, although a smattering of dry shrubs and tough-looking grasses polka-dotted the soil wherever there was enough subterranean water for them to live on. The multicolored bands of sandstone and limestone were exposed to the elements, and eons of wind and sand had worn them into smooth, uneven buttes and arches that stood out magnificently against the shockingly-blue sky.

All in all, the canyonlands made for a gorgeous painting, but Ember wasn't very interested in staying in the desert any longer than she had to.

Turning her attention back to Astrid, Ember pursed her lips as she noticed that the Spirit dragoness's head, wings, and tail were drooping. Her wingtips kept lowering and lowering, but the instant that they touched the hot sandstone, they twitched upwards. Ember looked around to see that Graves and Flame had disappeared somewhere. Rolling her eyes and internally wishing that they had bothered to tell her what they were doing, Ember extended a wing above Astrid, shading most of the Spirit dragoness's body with the appendage.

The pair waited alone on the rim of the gargantuan canyon for a few minutes, and Ember began to thank her lucky stars that she had been lucky to be a Fire dragoness. The air temperature was just a little bit above what she would call comfortable, which meant that Ember was practically feeding off of the heat, letting the sun's radiant energy replenish some of her stamina. Unfortunately for the Spirit dragoness, who didn't have the same resistance, the heat must have been utterly miserable.

Before Ember could recommend finding some shade somewhere else, the sandstone beneath Ember's feet vibrated for a second before a small fissure opened up in the rock in front of them. As she stared incredulously at the new hole in the seemingly-solid rock, a bright green draconic head popped out of the hole.

"You two must be Astrid and Ember!" The dragoness exclaimed, her voice chipper and a little bit squeaky. Ember guessed that the dragoness was about twelve years old. The dragoness's head disappeared back into the hole, and before Ember had a chance to tilt her head in confusion, the fissure widened until it was nearly fifteen feet across, revealing a set of stone stairs that led down into a tunnel.

Astrid wasted no time in making a beeline for the fissure, stepping shakily down the stone steps. Ember followed closely after her, and as soon as her tail was clear of the surface, she saw the little green dragoness rear up on her back paws. The little whelp scrunched her face up in concentration, puffed her cheeks out, and then brought her front paws crashing down. The tunnel vibrated and shook worryingly for a few seconds, and a little bit of sand fell onto Ember's snout, but she could feel the temperature dropping like a rock as they were sealed off from the surface.

Ember had expected utter darkness as the rock above them closed like a zipper, but tiny spots of light peppered the surface of the rock walls. She leaned close to the wall to see small, two-inch-wide circles of what looked like glass. She could have sworn she saw the blue sky through the tiny window, but her mental map told her that the tunnel wall was nowhere near the edge of the canyon.

"Thank the ancestors," Astrid moaned, slumping against the smooth sandstone wall as Ember filed her curiosity about the lights away for the time being. The tunnel's walls and ceiling were perfectly round, but the floor was flat. The roof of the tunnel stood about fifteen feet above the floor, which was barely high enough for an adult dragon to walk comfortably through without ducking their head.

"Are you both Flame's girlfriends?" The little dragoness asked, causing Ember's cheeks to heat up a little bit. "I thought it wasn't nice to have more than one girlfriend." Her face screwed up in thought for a second. "Unless one of you is Flame's friend's girlfriend?"

"Neither of us are Flame's girlfriend," Astrid grunted impatiently, her pale cheeks noticeably reddened. Ember knew that the Spirit dragoness probably wasn't flustered; rather, she was probably close to passing out from heat exhaustion, if she had to guess. "Do you have any water?"

Looking almost disappointed, the dragoness nodded and motioned with her wing for the pair to follow her deeper into the caverns. Ember was very glad that they had a guide; her mental mapping skills had proven close to useless after the second turn, and she was as lost as she had ever been. "Sorry for not asking your name," Ember said, breaking the somewhat-uncomfortable silence. "We were just a little surprised to find out there was a whole tunnel system underneath us."

"It's okay," the little dragoness said proudly, sticking her chest out. "I'm Sadie." She turned her head back towards Ember and tilted it slightly. "Are you Astrid or Ember?"

"I'm Ember," the pink dragoness smiled. "And that's Astrid over there."

"Charmed," Astrid grunted.

Ember pursed her lips at the Spirit dragoness. Ordinarily, she would have chastised her new friend for being so brusque with a helpful stranger, but she wasn't sure that she had the heart to do so when the white dragoness was so clearly exhausted. "Do you know where Flame and Graves are? They sorta disappeared on us."

"I think they're talking to papa and a couple of the others," Sadie said with a shrug of her wings, not sounding very sure of herself. "Probably about the things in the canyons." Ember and Astrid shared a concerned glance, but Sadie continued talking: "Papa told me to get you two some food and water first, though. The well is just around the corner, here."

"Thank the ancestors," Astrid grumbled as the trio turned the final corner of the maze of tunnels.

The well seemed to be part of an underground river. Clean, clear water flowed from between the paws of a carved stone dragon and fell into a large reservoir for all four Guardian trainees to bathe comfortably in at the same time. The well room was filled with the constant splashing and burbling of running water, making a blanket of white noise which was quickly interrupted by a relieved groan from a white Spirit dragoness. She quickly stuck her snout over the rim of the reservoir and began loudly slurping at the water.

"She must've been real thirsty," Sadie noted. "Anyways, papa said that we can wait here for Flame and you guys's other friend. He said those two will need some water too."

Ember nodded and said her thanks to the little Earth dragoness. She turned her head and quirked a brow at the Spirit dragoness for a moment before walking up behind her, reaching out with a paw, and tugging her shoulder away from the reservoir. "You're gonna make yourself sick like that," she chastised, shaking her head at the blind dragoness. "Take it slow. The water isn't going anywhere."

Astrid wrinkled her nose at the pink fire-breather, but did as she was told. Ember gave her blind friend a quick smile before reaching her own head over the rim of the reservoir and drinking her fill as well.

A worried pit had begun to form in Ember's stomach. 'The things in the canyons,' Sadie had said. The little dragoness's voice rang through Ember's head as she licked her lips dry. _Why do I have such a bad feeling about this? _

* * *

… **Do dragons sweat? 'Cause they're purportedly reptiles, and reptiles don't sweat (or pant, for that matter). Granted, it's my personal headcanon that dragons are just funky mammals rather than reptiles, but that's neither here nor there. **


	8. Chapter 8

"Hopscotch, butterscotch, junebug in the sky!" Flame chanted, prancing around in a quick circle in front of his family. His mother, Firefly, pressed her golden-yellow snout against his as they completed the greeting: "Shake your tail with diamonds in your eyes!"

The air in the surprisingly-well lit cavern that Flame had said was the 'common room' whistled as a half-dozen dragons whipped their tails around in the air. The sound bounced around the solid sandstone walls of the cave, and Flame was scooped in his family's embrace and nuzzled closely. He let out a couple of embarrassed laughs as he received a celebratory toss into the air before being placed back on terra firma.

Firefly positively beamed down at him, a doting smile on her face. "Our little candlelight hasn't even had a single day of classes, and the Guardians have already sent him on an important mission," she sighed, looking up at Crucible, Flame's father.

"Maybe one of the most important missions I can think of," Crucible nodded in agreement. "I bet you'll have Spyro and his friend back to the other guardians in record time."

Boulder, Flame's uncle and Crucible's brother, laughed and slapped Crucible's back with a forepaw. "You and Flame didn't inherit mom's wings, so I dunno about '_record_' time, per se…" He trailed off, artfully dodging a playful tail swipe.

Graves cleared his throat uncomfortably, bringing Flame's attention back to his fellow Guardian trainee who had been quietly observing the commotion. He winced as he realized that not only did he neglect to introduce his new friend to his family, but said new friend also saw him perform his family's greeting ritual. "Guys, this is Graves, one of the other three Guardian candidates. Graves, this is Firefly, my mom," Flame gestured to the bright yellow, middle-aged dragoness that stood directly in front of the two younger dragons. A pair of pristine ivory horns grew just behind her ears, curving gracefully towards each other. Her scales were perfectly straight and free of any blemishes or scars, a testament to her many years of living underground with her husband and brother-in-law.

"And this is my dad, Crucible," Flame said, gesturing to the dragon behind Firefly, whose scales were such a dark red that they were almost brown. His numerous short, stubby white horns stood out in contrast to his dark coloration, cresting the back of his skull like a crown. His wing membranes were pockmarked with holes and torn in places, and there was an entire section of membrane that was missing entirely, rendering the middle-aged dragon utterly incapable of flight. Crucible's scales bore the marks of countless battles, and old, uneven scars criss-crossed his chest, which had taken the brunt of his injuries.

"And Boulder, my uncle," Flame finished, motioning towards the forest-green dragon next to Crucible. Boulder seemed just as battlescarred as his brother, if not more. One of the dragon's ramlike horns was missing, having been broken off at the root in some long-past battle. His brown chest scales were thick on the edges, which meant that the edges had been chipped away or broken off multiple times.

"It's good to meet all of you," Graves said, bowing so deeply that his nose almost touched the stone floor.

"I know that you young ones won't be able to stay for very long," Firefly said, a warm and matronly smile on her face, "But I want all of you to know that while you're here, you can consider yourselves part of the family."

"I appreciate that very much," Graves said formally, bowing deeply again.

Crucible dipped his large head in return. "I'm sure you're all famished and exhausted from the flight from Warfang; Flame, would you mind showing your friends to your room while we make dinner? We'll have Sadie bring you five some extra cushions in a jiffy," he said, motioning towards the tunnel that led towards both the well room and Flame's old bedroom.

"I can help with dinner," Flame offered quickly.

"We insist," Boulder rumbled with a shake of his head. He brought a paw up and patted the top of Flame's head a few times. "We can't have one of our newest Guardians keeling over from exhaustion; go and get some rest."

Flame sported a smile, but his lips were tight as he looked up at his father and uncle. "Will do, you guys," he said. He dipped his head to his family, then turned and began to lead Graves down the tunnels that he knew like the back of his paw. As the pair walked, Flame allowed the pit of worry that had begun to settle in his stomach to fester and grow.

Boulder, his uncle, had been sporting a fresh bandage with a few spots of blood on his tail. He had clearly been trying to hide it by turning slightly away from his nephew anytime that he had moved close, but Flame still managed to notice it. Crucible had seemed on-edge as well, and everyone seemed to be almost relieved that Flame was there. Whether it was because they were relieved to see that he was okay, or relieved that another fire-breather was with them, Flame could only guess.

"You alright?" Graves asked. His voice was low, but it still echoed through the tunnels as though he was talking normally. A wry half-smile tweaked the corners of Flame's mouth as he considered just how little privacy he had growing up, given how well sound carried through the tunnels of his home.

"Just a little worried," Flame said just as quietly, shaking his head dismissively. "Something's got my folks pretty concerned."

Graves raised his brow at the younger dragon. "You sure?"

"Positive. They're probably just distracted 'cause I'm back so soon, though."

"Maybe there's something else to it," Graves suggested, but Flame immediately shook his head again.

"That's not it," he said, worriedly chewing the inside of his cheek. "I dunno. Forget I said anything."

"No," Graves said flatly.

Flame blinked in surprise, stopping in his tracks and turning his head at the large Earth dragon. "What? Dude, just forget it." He forced a mirthless chuckle. "I'll be fine. _They'll_ be fine; dad and Bould were warriors in the great war, and they've never lost a fight to anybody except each other."

"You're obviously worried about something."

"And I'll deal with it myself," Flame said as evenly as he could. He couldn't fathom why Graves was having such a difficult time leaving the subject alone; a dragon dealt with their own business, and that was that. That truth had served him and his family very well, as far as he was concerned. "We're here," he said, signaling the end of their conversation.

The tunnel opened up into the well room, which was just as Flame remembered it, save for the retching Spirit dragon. "Uh," Flame said as he and Graves stopped short of the entrance of the room.

"I told her she'd make herself sick if she drank too fast," Ember said with an innocent shrug, picking up the bucket that Astrid had just finished filling and replacing it with a new one. Flame winced as he realized that their water buckets would have to be _very _thoroughly scrubbed.

"This little field trip sucks," Astrid moaned, moving the fresh bucket away and spitting a few times into one of the pair of tainted ones. "I'm done, I think."

Sparx snorted loudly, holding his tiny hands over his mouth and nose as though it would help to keep the smell away. "Finally," he muttered, buzzing over from his place on top of the stone dragon's head and onto the top of Sadie's. Sadie herself looked a little disturbed, but she was politely looking everywhere besides Astrid and her tainted buckets.

Flame closed his eyes for a moment and drew in a calming breath. He grabbed a clean bucket out of the small stack next to the well and dipped it into the clean water. Grabbing its thick wooden handle in his teeth, he brought it out of the reservoir and sat it in front of Astrid. "Sadie, can you show these four to my room? I'll fly down to the river and wash these with sand."

Astrid glanced down at the fresh bucket of water with a sheepish expression before grabbing the handle in her teeth. Sadie awkwardly moved towards the tunnel that led to Flame's room, motioning for all of them to follow her with a wing. "Flame's room is this way," the young green dragoness squeaked, dipping her head as Astrid approached.

"Ember, would you mind going with him?" Graves spoke up suddenly. "Sparx and I will stay with Astrid and make sure she gets taken care of. Gotta stick together, you know."

Ember and Flame both cocked their heads at Graves. "I'll be fine, Graves; Ember, you go with the rest of them," he said with a quick shake of his head. "This is my home, and I know it like the back of my paw."

Ember glanced between Flame and Graves a few times as though she was unsure. Flame didn't wait for Graves to have the opportunity to put his foot down; instead, he simply grabbed the handle of one of the tainted buckets in his teeth and, trying not to breathe through his nose, began to make his way in the opposite direction from everyone else.

* * *

Ember lounged on one of the plush beige cushions that Sadie had brought into Flame's old bedroom. She lay on her back with each of her legs in the air, letting the curvature of the cushion pop her vertebrae as she let herself become more and more relaxed. Astrid chewed quietly on a strip of dried beef jerky that Sadie had brought from the kitchen, sipping carefully on her bucket of water every now and then.

Graves and Sadie had disappeared into the tunnels, playing something that Sadie had called Heartbeat Hide 'n Seek. From what Ember could understand from Sadie's squeaked explanation, she and Graves would take turns hiding in the tunnels, and the other dragon would use their Earth abilities to pinpoint their hiding spot using only their heartbeat. Ember was far from an expert on Earth dragons, but she knew that the ability to 'feel' a heartbeat through stone wasn't a simple technique. She wouldn't be very surprised if Sadie enrolled in the Guardian program at Warfang once she was old enough.

Sparx had left Flame's room as well, saying that he wanted to supervise the cooking process to make sure that everything was up to snuff. When Ember had asked him about his culinary experience, the little dragonfly had simply stammered for a moment before buzzing off without another word.

"_**Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum**_," Graves's rumbling voice echoed down the halls, and Ember could hear an excited squeal in response.

"Seems like they're having fun," Astrid commented, taking another sip of water.

"Seems like it," Ember agreed, lifting her head up off of the cushion. She looked over at Astrid, and felt a small bit of the tension in her shoulders disappear; the Spirit dragoness had stopped panting, and her scales weren't flushed or red anymore. The air in the tunnels was comfortably cool, which Ember was grateful for. If the trainees didn't have the tunnels to stay the night in, then Astrid may have had a heat stroke.

"You'd better not still be worrying about me," Astrid grumbled, although the corner of her mouth twitched upwards.

"I'm just glad that we made it through the first day without any incidents," Ember said defensively, holding up a paw. She considered her own words for a moment, then corrected herself: "Without any _major _incidents, that is."

"The day isn't over yet," Astrid said darkly, her half-lidded, milky eyes glancing in Ember's direction.

"Don't say stuff like that," Ember groaned. "That one thing that Sadie said has been bugging me enough as it is."

"'That one thing that Sadie said'?" Astrid echoed, quirking a brow as she waved her paw at a piece of jerky and floated it into her mouth.

Ember watched, fascinated, as Astrid demonstrated her curious abilities, but forced herself to focus. "Yeah-Sadie said something about 'the things in the canyons' when we were in the well room, and something about the way she said it has me a little worried."

"Kids say weird stuff all the time," Astrid said with a shrug of her wings.

"How much time have you spent with kids? I thought Spirit dragons were sort of like monks."

"Well, we don't exactly reproduce by budding."

"Oh…"

"I pulled the short straw one year and got picked to teach a new batch of young'uns," Astrid grumbled.

Ember narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the white dragoness. "You don't strike me as much of the teaching type."

"There's a reason I'm not doing it anymore," Astrid snorted, shaking her head. "Anyways: kids are weird and they say weird stuff. Doesn't mean that there's something dangerous happening."

"I heard Flame and Graves talking in the tunnels before they met back up with us," Ember added, trying not to feel frustrated at the Spirit dragoness's dismissive attitude.

"Oh no," Astrid moaned dramatically, clapping a paw on either side of her face, "They were _talking_?"

"Don't be an ass," Ember grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I'll keep my bad feelings to myself if you're just gonna make fun of me for them."

"I've got the Ancestors whispering in my ear all the live-long day, Ember," Astrid said calmly, shaking her head with a patronizing smile on her face. "I'll let you know if they start yelling about something; I promise."

Ember didn't say anything in response. She laid her head back down onto the cushion with a frustrated huff and tried to relax again. The muscles in her wings, shoulders, and back were knotted with tension again, and she rolled her eyes again underneath her closed eyelids. It would take her a while to unwind the tension in her body again.


	9. Chapter 9

**ll ll ll** Content warning: blood **ll ll ll**

Graves shifted uncomfortably in his hiding place in the natural crevasse. He wondered if he had hidden too far away from Sadie; he could feel her footsteps through a tunnel a little ways away, but he could only faintly detect her heartbeat. Raising a single talon, he began to tap the stone floor of the tunnel in a rough approximation of his own heartbeat. He felt Sadie's footsteps stop for a moment, and then she turned around and started running in a different direction.

Graves allowed himself a satisfied smile. He figured that it wouldn't hurt for him to help the little Earth dragoness cheat, lest she become discouraged.

As Sadie's footsteps grew closer, Graves practiced his 'surprised' face before a strong thud reverberated through the tunnels. Instantly on high alert, Graves stepped from his hiding place and glanced up and down the dimly-lit tunnel, straining the sensitive pads on his paws for any signs of danger.

"Graves! Papa says dinner's ready!" Sadie's voice echoed through the tunnel. Graves turned his head to see the little mint-green dragoness bounding towards him, a haughty smile on her face. "I found you!"

"You weren't trying to trick me, were you?" Graves said suspiciously, leaning forwards and narrowing his eyes down at her.

"No!" Sadie laughed, shaking her head. "That thump was papa's tail, telling us that dinner's ready. I found you fair and square".

"I guess you did," Graves chuckled, shaking his head. "Lead the way, little one." Sadie nodded enthusiastically and turned on her heel, trotting down the hall gaily while Graves followed her close behind. "You've got a really good grasp on your Earth powers, if you're hearing heartbeats through stone like that."

Sadie shrugged. "Papa, uncle Crucie, and I play games like that all the time. Since it's too dangerous for me to go outside, they always come up with all sorts of fun stuff to do inside."

_I wonder if Flame became such a good fighter with games like this… _Graves paused for a moment, not sure of what to say. "Well at any rate, you're doing a great job. Maybe one day you'll be a Guardian too."

Whirling around, Sadie lit up like a beacon and hopped from foot to foot as though she simply couldn't contain the joy in her heart. "You really think so?" She squealed, the brightest smile that Graves had ever seen on her face.

"Of course," Graves said, chuckling at her exuberance. "If you're this good with your Earth abilities at such a young age, you'll probably make for an even better Guardian than me. I couldn't hear something like a heartbeat through stone until just a few years ago, and I turned twenty this year."

"You're pulling my leg," Sadie said dismissively, although the spark behind her eyes was still present.

"I'm telling the truth," Graves said honestly, waving a defensive paw in front of himself. "You're gonna be something extraordinary one of these days, if you keep practicing like you have been."

Sadie didn't say anything in response, but she squirmed a little bit in excitement as she turned around again and continued to lead Graves down the tunnel, a very noticeable spring in her step. Smirking, Graves shook his head lightly and picked up his pace to keep up with the little Earth dragoness.

"I don't think Astrid and Ember know that the thud means that dinner's ready," Graves pointed out after a few moments of quiet. "We should probably go get them from Flame's room."

"That's a good idea," Sadie said thoughtfully, nodding. She stopped in place for a moment, cocking her head at an intersection of tunnels, and turned left.

Before long, just as Graves started to recognize some of the tunnels that they were traveling through, Sadie announced, "We're here!" She turned into a well-lit room and dipped her head in greeting to Ember and Astrid.

As Graves entered the room, he blinked in surprise at the absence of a particular cherry-red Fire dragon. "Flame isn't back yet?" He asked, cocking his head at the white and pink dragonesses.

Ember and Astrid shared a glance. "Sparx said that he was gonna see what was taking him so long a little while ago…" Astrid said, standing up from the cushioned pillow she had been lounging on and stretching with a restrained grunt. "He also said that he had a knack for tunnels after working with the moles in Warfang and that he wouldn't get lost, but…" She shrugged. "Do you think we should look for them?"

"Flame or Sparx?" Ember quirked a brow.

"Well Flame doesn't talk as much, so…" Astrid trailed off with a shrug.

"Flame didn't exactly seem thrilled when we met up in the well room," Ember commented, rolling off of her back and onto all fours. "Did something happen?"

"Not exactly," Graves grunted, trying to ignore the alarms that were going off in the back of his mind. "He was worried about something… Or maybe he wasn't, and just annoyed that I thought he was." He shrugged and glanced down at the concerned expression on his Heartbeat Hide n' Seek playmate for a moment. "We should go look for them."

Astrid groaned. "How is it that the one dragon that gets whispers from the Ancestors is the only one that doesn't have a bad feeling about this?"

"You don't have to come if you don't want to." Graves held up a paw.

Rolling her blank eyes, Astrid snaked lithely past him. "You don't have to play that card with me. I'm coming."

Looking back down at Sadie, Graves said, "Would you mind leading us to the surface? We're gonna go look for Flame."

The little green dragoness glanced around at each of the three older dragons in turn and, seeming somewhat unsure, nodded and led each of them out of the room.

* * *

After Sadie had led the trio of Guardian trainees to the entrance, Graves had asked her to wait by the entrance to the subterranean home for them to return. He and Ember flew side-by-side down to the maw of the canyon, while a still-exhausted Astrid glided in their wake. Graves glanced back to the white Spirit dragoness every now and then, but an annoyed growl and narrowed eyes told him to keep his concern to himself. He knew that she needed rest, and he had considered putting his foot down and ordering her to stay in Flame's room, but his limited interactions with her told him that it would probably be a wasted effort.

Ember spotted Flame first; Graves had to squint to make out the red smudge next to the river that snaked through the heart of the shaded depths of the canyon. The rim of the canyon blocked out the setting sunlight, casting the Guardian trainees in premature dusk.

The pit of worry that had been resting in Graves's stomach grew heavier as he began to make out a few details of the thing Flame was standing in front of. Three loose, concentric rings were etched into the bare sandstone. Grey smudges dotted the rings, and in the middle of it all was a large brown stain that obscured parts of the inner ring. As the trio glided closer and landed next to Flame and Sparx without a word spoken between them, Graves saw that the grey smudges were actually what looked to be statues.

An assorted myriad of apes, grublins, wolves, and a few other bipedal and sapient creatures that Graves didn't recognize were seemingly petrified in place. All of the races that Graves recognized had previously worked for the Dark Master at one point, but never at the same time, which only served to confuse Graves even further. Each and every one of the statues seemed to be praying: some were on their knees with their foreheads pressed against the stone, while others had their hands raised into the air with their heads rolling backwards. Nearly all of the creatures had some sort of damage, such as a missing limb or head, but a pile of dust underneath the misplaced appendages told Graves that weathering was likely the culprit.

"This is new," Flame murmured, his voice scarcely audible over the wind that blew through the canyon.

"So," Astrid said impatiently, striding straight towards one of the statues that knelt just on the outside of the outer ring, "What are we all looking at?"

Before Graves could bark a warning, Astrid bumped snout-first into a kneeling wolf statue that had its arms raised into the air. As her muzzle smacked the back of its head, it broke free from the neck with a grating sound and crumbled into dust as it hit the ground. Astrid let out a squawk of surprise, jerking her head backwards and retreating towards the group. "What was that!"

Ember cocked her head at the Spirit dragoness. "I thought you could see the Aether in everything, including rocks?"

Astrid nodded slowly as she narrowed her eyes at the wolf statue and turned her head this way and that as though it would help her. "I can," she said distractedly, obviously deep in concentration. "No matter what the material is, I can 'see' the Aether in it. Rocks, grass, dragons, crystals, dragon_flies_; it doesn't matter. Literally _everything _has Aether in it… Even the air. This, though…" She trailed off, glancing back at the other Guardian trainees with an unreadable look on her face. "There's nothing in here." She reached out blindly with a paw and jerked slightly as the sensitive pads on the bottom brushed up against the stony surface of the statue.

"Fan-diddly-tastic," Sparx grumbled. "I _told _you there wasn't anything interesting here, so let's go get some grub, huh fellas?"

"Hey guys," Astrid said, glancing back towards the other three dragons with an odd tint to her voice. "Remember how I said that I didn't have a bad feeling about this? The Ancestors are getting sorta talkative now. Something about the moon, but I can't make out much more than that."

"The moon?" Flame asked incredulously. "Is it gonna fall out of the sky or something?

"It's not necessarily literal," Astrid said distractedly. "But I _definitely _think we should be back into the tunnels before dark." She glanced upwards at the sky, which was slowly gaining an orange tint as the sun, hidden by the towering walls of the canyon, made its way towards the horizon.

"I think we found what Sadie meant when she said 'the things in the canyons'," Ember agreed, nodding as she took a step towards the adjacent statue: an ape, with its forehead pressed against the sandstone.

The little dragonfly heaved a defeated sigh. "Yeah, you guys are gonna get along great with Spyro."

Graves craned his neck slightly. "Astrid, what do you make of the stuff in the middle of these circles?"

Astrid turned her head towards the brown stain for a moment before grimacing. "Seems like a mixture of blood and… _something_. Whatever it is, the flies like it a lot."

"Whose blood?" Flame breathed, but no one felt like guessing.

"We should look around for clues," Graves said, his tone brokering no room for argument.

"I'm gonna have to veto that, big guy," Sparx argued, crossing his arms across his chest. "I don't think these guys are gonna be very good for conversation, so let's get out of here, go rest up, and find Spyro. Now _that _sounds interesting; don't you think?"

"Now that I'm paying attention, I can see the hollow spaces where the air _isn't_," Astrid murmured thoughtfully.

"What do you think that could mean?" Ember asked, dragging a single claw across the back of the ape statue that she had been inspecting. Her claw left a shallow cut in the apparently-soft stone, and she pulled a face and shook the grey dust off of her claw.

"Oh delightful; I'm being ignored now," Sparx muttered.

"This is a pretty novel experience for me," Astrid said with a shrug.

"Can the Aether be… drained out of something?" Ember suggested.

Astrid shook her head. "Aether is tied to the material that it's in; you can't take away the Aether without taking away the material as well."

"Uh," Flame piped up, his voice quiet, "What's Aether?"

"We don't have time for science class," Astrid grumbled, not bothering to spare the young fire-breather a glance.

"The short version," Ember said patiently, turning her head towards him, "Is that Aether is what you might call a life force, but it's more broad than that. Like Astrid said, it's in everything and every_one_, and it's what gives dragons their elemental abilities and allows other creatures to use magic."

Flame nodded. "So we use Aether like fuel whenever we breathe fire?"

"Not quite," Ember shook her head, "Aether is what gives us the ability in the first place. I'll give you a more in-depth explanation later."

"Hm," Sparx grunted, "Hope you're getting paid for your tutoring services."

"Graves, maybe you could try reshaping one of these statues with your Earth element?" Ember suggested, soundly ignoring the yellow dragonfly. At Graves's questioning look, she simply shrugged with her wings. "You said to look for clues."

Graves didn't respond; instead, he took a couple of steps towards the wolf statue that Astrid had bumped into. Furrowing his brow and trying not to think about how dry his throat had suddenly become, he reached out with a paw and activated his innate element. Earth magic flowed from his core, through his leg, and into his paw, but when it came into contact with the stone statue, it seemingly disappeared altogether with a feeling that reminded him of missing the top step of a staircase. He retracted his paw and flexed his digits, narrowing his eyes at the cold feeling that lingered on the pads.

"Nothing," Graves muttered, putting his paw back onto the ground.

"I wouldn't say that," Astrid shook her head, pulling her mouth into a tight line. "It's almost like the elemental energy just… disappeared somewhere."

Ember cocked her head. "Could you tell where it went?"

Shaking her head again, Astrid took a step backwards, away from the statue. "The energy didn't _go_ anywhere, it just sorta disappeared."

"I feel the need to reiterate that this place is really creepy, and that we should leave it alone," Sparx piped up, flying directly in front of Graves's face. "I'll be honest, it's a little weird that I have to say this sorta thing more than once."

"I might have to agree with Sparx," Astrid said, her voice disappointed. "Whatever's the deal with this place, it's over my head."

"Mine too," Ember agreed. "I can't even come up with a hypothesis."

Frowning, Graves shooed Sparx away with a wave of his paw and looked down at the outer circle that had been carved into the sandstone. The circle was smooth and unblemished, which told him that it was either painstakingly chiseled and polished to perfection, or it was etched by a very skilled Earth dragon. He furrowed his brow and started to walk between the statues, but the second that his front paw touched the stone on the inside of the outer ring, a wracking pain overloaded his senses.

Graves cried out in a mixture of surprise and pain, trying to pull his paw away, but the fleshy pad had seemingly been glued to the stone. His paw felt as though he had stepped into a ripping-hot frying pan. As he struggled, he lost his balance and fell onto his elbow, which instantaneously stuck to the innocent-looking stone as well. Astrid, Ember, and Flame instantly jumped to his side, but he squeezed his eyes shut to block out the pain long enough to shout, "Get back! I can't get away!"

Gritting his teeth, Graves pulled on his front leg as hard as his body would allow him to. He felt one of the others clamp their jaws around the club at the end of his tail and begin to pull, popping a few of his vertebrae in the process. Opening his eyes again, he saw with no small amount of horror that a streak of blood, originating from his paw and elbow, was smearing itself in a straight line towards the inner circle as though pulled by gravity. As Graves continued to try and free himself, the wracking pain began to subside, but it was replaced by a bitter cold that made his flesh feel numb and stiff.

Before he could say anything, though, an unseen force wrapped around his foreleg and yanked him free. With a sickening sound that sounded like ripping fabric, Graves flew backwards, collapsing in a heap onto Flame, who had been the one pulling on his tail club.

"Ancestors, you're heavy," Flame groaned, coughing, as Graves rolled off of him.

A string of muted curses fell from Ember's mouth. "Are you alright, Graves?"

Graves followed her gaze to the foreleg that had been stuck on the stone, and suppressed a grimace as he saw that the skin on the underside of his paw and on his elbow had been left behind. The muscle and tissue underneath were almost completely white and bloodless, but were quickly becoming red as blood started to ooze from the torn vessels. Graves lifted his gaze towards the rings, and he could see the skin that had been stuck to the sandstone slowly turning gray. The streak of blood continued to flow towards the center of the rings, and merged with the brown stain that had previously been there until they were indistinguishable from one another.

"I'm sorry," Astrid said sheepishly. The Earth dragon turned his head to see her surprisingly close to him, and she put an apologetic paw on his shoulder. "I panicked and started yanking once I saw that the circle was trying to drain you dry." A frustrated look crossed her face for a quick second before a determined mask replaced it. "I'll heal you, though."

"It's okay," Graves said with a shake of his head.

"That must be horrifically painful," Ember commented, glancing back and forth between the layer of flesh inside the circle and Graves's paw, which he had tucked against his chest to keep it from bleeding too much. "You okay too, Flame?" She asked, glancing towards the cherry-red Fire dragon.

"It hurts to breathe," Flame groaned weakly.

Furrowing his brow, Graves looked down at his injury, surprised at how little it hurt. The entire limb still ached with cold, as though he had just submerged it in ice water for a few minutes, but the missing skin accounted for only a tiny percentage of the pain he felt. "It's actually not that bad."

"Are you just playing tough because there's girls here, or does it actually not hurt?" Astrid said severely, the corners of her mouth twitching downwards. "Because the first is annoying, and the second is concerning."

Swallowing, Graves forced himself to smile. "It actually doesn't hurt as much as it probably should. It feels… cold, almost. Like it was getting frozen."

"We can talk about the implications of all that later," Ember cut Astrid off as she opened her mouth to speak, shaking her head. "Graves, Flame; are you guys well enough to fly back to the entrance?"

As the Earth dragon and Fire dragon shared a glance and a nod, the four Guardian trainees spread their wings and took to the air.

"One of these days, Sparx, somebody's gonna take your advice _before _something bad happens," Sparx muttered to himself, his voice barely carrying to the dragons over the wind. "One of these days…"

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**A/N: Maybe Sparx would do it for a Scooby Snack. **


	10. Chapter 10

Spyro gave a mighty yawn as he sat at the mouth of the mouse's cave, flicking the tip of his long tongue out of his mouth as he finished. The sun was setting on the forest around him and orange, spearlike beams of light filtered through the boughs and leaves of the towering trees. Birds bustled and flew on and between the branches, casting fleeting shadows across the grassy ground below.

"Just because you saved the world doesn't mean that you get a pass on manners," Cynder said suddenly, startling him as she poked him in the shoulder with a folded wing.

"Sorry," Spyro said with a sheepish smile, ducking his head a little bit. "I'm just sorta sleepy."

Shaking her head, Cynder sat close to him and coiled her tail around herself like a cat. Spyro could feel the warmth of her scales as it traveled the scant few inches between their sides. "I don't understand how you could possibly be tired after sleeping for almost a month straight."

"Maybe I just needed it," Spyro retorted, sticking his nose up at the black dragoness.

"Maybe," Cynder echoed with a snort.

Silence fell between the two dragons, but Spyro didn't feel tense at the lack of conversation. After risking life and limb with the dragoness beside him, he didn't feel the need to fill every second with conversation. "We're gonna need to leave soon," Spyro said quietly, his breath barely above a whisper.

"It would be nice to see Warfang when it's not under siege by something," Cynder agreed, a wry smile on her face. "As a matter of fact, it'd be nice to see _any _place that isn't either being attacked, preparing to defend against an attack, or recovering from an attack." Spyro glanced over at the black dragoness, whose expression had grown dark. "Everyone and every_thing_ can finally start to recover."

"Including us," Spyro pointed out, his voice low.

"Including us," Cynder echoed his words.

Another silent handful of seconds passed the pair by. "You know, you could always abdicate your throne," Spyro said, breaking the silence.

Furrowing her brow, Cynder turned her head fully towards him. "What?"

"Your throne."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, since you say you're the queen of not dealing with feelings in a healthy way," Spyro elaborated, a smirk growing across his face. "You could always abdicate."

"Ancestors," Cynder huffed. She rolled her eyes dramatically, but a smirk made the corners of her mouth rise despite her clear efforts. "You're not supposed to turn that sorta thing around on me; I was trying to make you feel better."

"I didn't realize I couldn't do the same for you," Spyro said with a shrug. "My mistake."

Cynder inhaled and heaved a sigh through her nose. "You're more annoying than Sparx sometimes, I swear."

Spyro pressed a paw onto his chest in mock hurt. "I can't believe you'd say a thing like that." He snickered with laughter for a short moment, and felt a small sense of relief as Cynder joined in.

A mouse skittered through the grass towards the cave, and Spyro could see that its cheeks were stuffed full to the brim with something that it had foraged. "I don't know how we can thank these little guys for helping me," he said, realizing that Cynder wasn't going to be talking about her feelings anytime soon.

"You mean _us_," Cynder corrected, noticeably relaxing at the change in subject. "I wasn't exactly fighting-fit when I woke up, surrounded by a half-dozen of those little healers… You're right, though. I know they like having us around; I've killed who-knows-how-many rattlesnakes, hawks… I even tracked down a mountain lion that the mice were worried about."

"A mountain lion?" Spyro repeated, impressed.

"Spyro," Cynder laughed, "We've taken down things _literally _a thousand times bigger than a mountain lion."

The purple dragon opened his mouth to argue that a mountain lion could still be dangerous, but quickly reconsidered and shut it. He wasn't interested in finding out, but he reckoned that a mountain lion would have to catch him completely unaware in order to inflict any sort of meaningful wound on him. "I guess you're right. Still, though, we should probably find some other way of thanking the little guys. I'm pretty sure the hawks and snakes don't appreciate getting killed for wanting a meal," he mused, clicking his claws on the hard stone underneath him.

"Is there really anything we _can _do for them?" Cynder pondered. "We could forage for them or something, but that wouldn't last very long. Even if we gathered a huge pile of food, I don't think they could eat it all before it started to rot."

"And even if we killed every single thing that eats mice in the area, predators would eventually come back," Spryo added, nodding in agreement.

"I didn't see the healer mice using any sort of gems or crystals, so giving them a big pile of those probably wouldn't do much either."

"You wouldn't happen to have figured out how to communicate with them while I was recovering, have you?"

Shaking her head, Cynder pursed her lips, deep in thought. "The mice and I can get a good idea of what each other wants with gestures and miming, but I can't exactly hold a conversation with them."

The tip of Spyro's tail twitched in frustration. "It feels wrong to just leave all of a sudden."

"We could always just stay here forever," Cynder said with a single chuckle, bringing her wing back to her side. "The mice are nice enough, even if they smell a little funny."

Chuckling, Spyro shook his head and stood shakily, trying not to dwell on the realization that he already sorely missed the warmth of his friend's wing over his shoulders. "I don't think the hermit lifestyle would suit me very much."

"A hermit?" Cynder said incredulously, placing a paw on her chest in feigned shock. Her expression was light, but her eyes keenly watched his body as though she expected him to collapse at any moment. "Would I not be allowed to stay in your mousey paradise?"

"Of course you would!" Spyro almost instantly. Somehow, he found that he didn't mind answering too quickly, and judging by the ghost of a smile on Cynder's face, she didn't either. "These mice are nice, but they're not that great for conversation."

Cynder's smile grew a little wider for a moment, but it fell as her eyes traced the purple dragon's form. "At any rate, we've still got a few days to figure out our parting gift. We should probably get some sleep soon." She rose to her feet as well and swished her whiplike, bladed tail back and forth for a moment.

"I think I'm gonna take a walk alone for a little while," Spyro announced, pointing himself towards the forest.

"It'll be dark before too long," Cynder pointed out, a quizzical expression on her face.

"Thanks to a certain black dragon, I don't think there's too many mountain lions roaming around," Spyro said with a shake of his head. "I won't be gone long; just enough to tire myself out a little bit. I've gotta get my strength back somehow, and lounging around all day doesn't seem to do the trick."

Clearly unsure, Cynder gave a hesitant nod, her mouth pulled into a tight line. "I'm gonna come looking for you if you're not back in an hour."

"I won't get lost," Spyro assured, stepping onto the moss and grass outside the mouth of the cave. Waving with a wing, he began walking away into the darkening forest.

The sky overhead was streaked with oranges and pinks as the sun approached the horizon. A few white, puffy clouds told him that the air in the sky was only a little turbulent, and perfect for flying. Once he was out of sight of Cynder, he spread his orange wings and gave them a gentle, experimental flap. He winced as the sore muscles ached in protest, and quickly folded them back at his sides. It would be another two days at the very least before he could even think about flying, and probably yet another two or three days after that before he could manage a long-distance flight back to Warfang.

_Whichever direction __**that **__is, _Spyro grumbled internally, trying to fight back the hopeless feeling that began to bubble up in his chest. He didn't know where in the world he and Cynder even were, assuming that they were still in the same realm that they had always lived in. Spyro didn't know how he and Cynder had gotten to the surface after their battle with Malefor in the center of the planet. _Maybe this is whatever realm a dragon goes to after they die, and it's useless to try and find our way back to Warfang_.

Spyro shook his head roughly, trying to rid himself of the thought like a horse trying to rid itself of pestering flies. It wouldn't do to dwell on far-fetched possibilities.

Gathering himself up to his full height, Spyro brought forth his Fire element and coughed out a small fireball, which sputtered out harmlessly against a tree trunk. Clicking his tongue thoughtfully, he activated his Electricity element and tapped the ground, causing a few sparks of electricity to arc into the dirt. His Earth element was able to make the pebbles in the ground around him vibrate, and his Ice element allowed him to freeze a small patch of moss at his feet.

Spyro frowned. He certainly still had command over the four elements, but the power that each of them had was greatly reduced. He was easily able to chalk it up to his lingering exhaustion from his fight with Malefor, though, which brought at least a small sense of comfort to him.

With at least one of his concerns abated, Spyro sat lightly on the grass and closed his eyes, spreading his wings slightly and curling his tail around himself. He willed his troubled mind to relax, and in the calm, he began to ponder how he could help the mice, how he could help Cynder, and how he could find out where civilization was.

* * *

**A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter, but this one went through probably a half-dozen revisions and I'm still not tickled pink about how it turned out... Gotta call it 'finished' and get on with the rest of the story, though. **

**Soon, our heroes will meet. Soon. **


	11. Chapter 11

**\\\ \\\ Content warning: Abuse mention / /**

* * *

Ember sat uncomfortably at her place at the dining room table. Tension filled the room; Flame's family kept glancing at the four Guardian trainees with a cross between concern and agitation. Ember could practically hear them saying '_Well, this wouldn't have happened if the four of you had just stayed in the tunnels_,' merely from watching their facial expressions.

The stone dining room table was long enough to comfortably seat a dozen adult dragons, and the three adults and five youngsters were able to have more than plenty of elbow room as they ate the rich goat stew that Firefly had prepared. The table was perfectly flat, which told Ember that it was likely made by an Earth dragon, and the stone stools around it and the bowls of stew were similarly perfectly crafted. Ember assumed that the table, seats, and likely most of the tunnels were made by Boulder, which impressed the young Fire dragoness. The Guardian candidates sat on one side of the table, while Crucible, Boulder, Firefly, and Sadie sat on the other. Sparx hovered over a small piece of carrot at the head of the table.

Astrid had 'patched' Graves's foreleg to staunch the bleeding once they had returned to the safety and calm of the tunnels. A pang of pity shot through Ember's chest as she watched the Spirit dragoness clumsily lift her second full bowl of stew to her mouth, swallowing the broth and chewing the tender, slow-cooked chunks of goat meat noisily and apparently without much care for decorum. Astrid was obviously running on fumes, between the day-long flight, getting sick from drinking water too quickly, tracking down Flame, and partially healing Graves's injury with only an hour-long break and some beef jerky to rejuvenate her.

Graves appeared to be somewhat cowed, although Ember wasn't sure if it was because of his brush with death or Flame's family's glances. Crucible's gaze kept lingering on Graves's foreleg whenever the Earth dragon raised it above the table to pick up his stew bowl, but the older Fire dragon didn't say anything about it.

Flame had scarfed down his bowl of stew and was working on a second half-bowl; he ate with the same gusto as Astrid did, but where the Spirit dragoness was clearly famished and trying to replenish her energy, the Fire dragon ate angrily, as though he was working out some sort of frustration by gnashing the chunks of meat between his teeth. Between bites, he almost seemed as though he wanted to say something, but he simply couldn't work up the courage to do so. He even opened his mouth and drew in a breath to speak a few times, but simply let it out in a quiet huff that barely broke the silence in the room.

_So Astrid's exhausted, Graves had a brush with death and is probably lost in thought, and Flame can't work up the courage to tell his family off, _Ember ticked off her mental list, eyeing each dragon as she thought of them. _And then there's me, wondering when the yelling contest will finally start,_ she grumbled internally. Her heart rate had been uncomfortably high as soon as she had noticed the adults' stares, and her every sense had been on high alert for trouble ever since. Every time a dragon sighed or placed their bowl of stew back on the table a little too hard, an involuntary flinch ran through her body. She cursed herself each time it happened, and hoped that no one else had noticed.

"So," Sparx spoke up suddenly, causing every eye in the room to fall on him, "This is fun." He opened his tiny mouth and finished off the small piece of carrot that had made up his entire meal.

"Sparx is right," Boulder said with a quick sigh. "Young ones, I-"

"You didn't tell us about the freaky rings in the canyons," Flame interrupted his uncle, his voice low but pointed.

_Here we go, _Ember internally lamented, ducking her head to keep herself from becoming a target. Firefly, Crucible, and Boulder all raised their brows in surprise, and Ember felt her own body tense until her joints ached. A confrontation had reared its ugly head, and the only thing that the pink dragoness could do was weather the storm until tempers had cooled.

"Little candlelight," Firefly cooed, gently setting her bowl of stew on the stone table. "We didn't think that it would be a problem."

"Exactly," Crucible said, a stern look on his face. "The tunnels are safe, which is why you all should've stayed here."

"Not to mention," Boulder rumbled, his voice deep and low, "We adults would have investigated it if we had wanted to know about it. The four of you Guardian candidates have much to learn before you should even _consider _sticking your noses somewhere they don't belong like that."

"It's a good way to get a scar, that's for sure," Crucible chuckled, pointing to an old scar on the end of his own snout.

Ember lifted her bowl of goat stew up to her lips and finished the last of the broth despite her vanished appetite. Silence filled the dining room again, but the adults' volume had stayed surprisingly low. Her stomach couldn't decide whether to be relieved or nervous, so it simply stayed stuck in neutral.

Flame chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before Graves spoke up. "I think what Flame is trying to say is that a small issue can potentially turn into a big problem if left unchecked," the large Earth dragon said quietly. "Sir," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Boulder and Crucible shared a quick glance before Crucible sighed. "You do have a point, young one, but these tunnels have kept our family safe for almost two decades. Even if the circles and statues were dangerous, we're safe in here. Even a company of Cynder's army couldn't penetrate these walls, if she could even find us in the first place."

_You wouldn't have anywhere to run if someone __**did**__ find this place, though, _Ember mentally noted, although she kept her observation to herself.

"Sorry," Flame murmured, hanging his head low.

Firefly clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Little candlelight, I think it's good that you said that."

Ember blinked in surprise. _What? _

"What?" Flame asked, apparently as surprised as Ember was. The aura of anger that had surrounded the young fire-breather dissipated like steam.

"You're training to be a Guardian of Fire," Boulder said as though it was the simplest thing in the world. "And you're sixteen now; Ancestors know how rebellious and contrarian I was when I was your age." The gigantic Earth dragon chuckled, and Ember swore she felt the stone stool beneath her rumble as he laughed.

Crucible gave Flame a fatherly half-smile. "Guardians seek out and defend their realm against threats both foreign and domestic; if anything, the fact that you confronted us tells me that you're going to make for a great Guardian one day."

"One day in the far future," Firefly added with a worried frown.

"In the far future," Crucible echoed, nodding.

Flame glanced back and forth at the other Guardian trainees as though he was embarrassed. "I thought you guys would be upset," he muttered sheepishly.

"It's not exactly _fun _to be disagreed with," laughed Boulder, shaking his head, "But it never hurts to re-examine one's ideals. If you're too stubborn and set in your ways, you'll end up shattering just like a piece of obsidian. Hard, but as brittle as glass."

Ember felt her muscles finally begin to relax; she wasn't entirely sure how the confrontation had come and gone with nary a shout, but she was glad that it did. The reality of the situation in front of her clashed with every single expectation that she had, causing her head to nearly spin with confusion. Familial arguments were nasty affairs, and even minor ones tended to be accompanied by lots of shouting, harsh words, and name-calling, but she had witnessed an argument get defused with scarcely a frown. She watched Flame and his family with fascinated eyes as they exchanged small smiles.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mister Graves," Firefly said after a few moments of quiet, "I don't remember that injury on your foreleg when we met earlier. Did something happen?"

"Oh," Graves said, as though he had forgotten about it. "We were… investigating the circle, and when I stepped into it, my skin stuck to the stone. Astrid and Flame helped pull me off, but some of me got left behind." Astrid sat her empty bowl down suddenly, a look of alarm on her face.

"Ancestors," Firefly said, a visible shiver running down her spine. "It looks as though it's a few weeks old, though."

"Astrid healed me," Graves said simply, glancing over at the white dragoness, whose expression had turned murderous.

"_Don't_," she hissed quietly, causing the Earth dragon to cock his head.

"Are you a herbalist?" Sadie piped up for the first time since they had started eating, a fascinated spark in her young eyes.

"I sure am!" Astrid said quickly.

"You are?" Graves furrowed his brow, clearly not catching on. "I thought you healed me with your Spirit dragon powers."

"You _asshole_," she muttered, but her words were nearly drowned out by a sudden flurry of movement on the opposite side of the table.

Crucible, Firefly, and Boulder had jumped off of their stone chairs and knelt down on the floor, facing Astrid. "Blessed Spirit dragon, forgive us!" Crucible said quickly, his voice muffled from pressing his forehead against the floor. "This abode and this food is unbecoming of a mouthpiece of the blessed Ancestors!"

Sadie looked at her father, aunt, and uncle in alarm, her eyes wide. "Papa?"

_That's one way to change the subject, I guess, _Ember mused, blinking in surprise.

"Oh." As the single syllable fell out of Graves's mouth, Astrid whipped her head around and glared at him.

"I'm gonna punch you in the damned throat if you say another word," she hissed at him, before standing up with a sigh and composing herself. She stood from her stool, grunting as she stretched out her legs again, and walked around the table with her wings spread wide.

Ember watched in both fascination and amusement as Flame's family rotated themselves on the floor so that they continued to bow towards the Spirit dragon. Astrid reared up on her hind legs and pressed her forepaws together, closing her milky-white eyes tightly. "Rise, Crucible, Boulder, and Firefly of the Canyonlands; you need not bow to me," Astrid said in a tone of voice that Ember had never heard her use before.

Boulder lifted his head and grabbed Sadie out of her seat, who let out a surprised yelp as she was planted on all fours in front of Astrid. "Bless her, great Spirit dragoness; bless her so that she may grow up healthy and safe," Boulder pleaded, placing his forehead against the stone floor again.

"Papa?" Sadie sputtered, clearly confused.

"Bless her," Firefly and Crucible said in unison.

Astrid's serene expression dipped into a frown for a split second, but it disappeared nearly as soon as it had appeared. She leaned forwards and placed a single paw on the top of Sadie's head, right between her budding horns, saying, "Ancestors, protect and guide this young soul as she builds her life. Guard her path and ward her mind against any darkness and hardship that she may encounter." She pulled her paw away and dropped back down onto all fours, a forced smile spreading across her face. "Now: the three of you, _please _get up. I promise, I'm not some sorta special… thing."

"Blessed Spirit dragoness-"

"My name's Astrid," she said quickly, interrupting Boulder as he spoke.

"A-Astrid," Boulder corrected himself, "I can't even begin to thank you enough for your blessing. Is there _anything _that we can do in return?"

Astrid shook her head. "I just need to finish healing Graves and then get to sleep; I'll need some rest before we head out again tomorrow morning."

"You may rest in our bed-" Firefly started, but Astrid cut her off.

"No, I'll sleep on a cushion, just like the rest of my friends. Speaking of," she said, turning her head to glare at Graves again, "I've got an idiot to heal, so I should finish that before I fall asleep. The food was delicious, and your stone home is very impressive to behold, and I thank you for both."

Boulder raised his head off of the floor and regarded Astrid with happy tears in his eyes. "Your humility is inspiring, blessed Sp-ah, Astrid. Please, take your leave, and rest well."

Astrid nodded, an uncomfortable look on her face, and turned and walked around the table again. "Let's go, blockhead," she said with a jerk of her head. Graves sheepishly drank the last of the broth in his bowl and rose from his stone stool with his head ducked low.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I think I know the way back to Flame's room by now."

"Good," Astrid said, extending a wing. "Lead the way, _sir_."

Ember watched the pair leave, blinking blearily as her brain digested everything that had happened. She knew very well that Astrid was a Spirit dragon, which was certainly rare and special, but she didn't know that they were apparently worshipped by some dragons. A flurry of questions and curiosities filled her mind: _Are blessings from Spirit dragons expected? It seems like it's something special, but is it… real, or is it just a placebo? _

"Boy," Sparx muttered, interrupting Ember's train of thought, "These guys' heads are gonna explode when they meet Spyro."

* * *

**(A/N)****: Another chapter that went through two or three complete overhauls. Hope y'all enjoy, and hope y'all are staying safe and sane. **


	12. Chapter 12

"Hold _still_, damn it," Astrid fretted, reaching up with a paw and flicking Graves's soft nose. She brought her paw back down to where it had been hovering over his front leg and continued to pour her dwindling energy into the wound.

The pair had retired to Flame's room so that Astrid could finish healing Graves's injury. Astrid sat on a small cushion in front of a prone Graves who seemed to be utterly unable to sit still. Flame, Ember, and Sparx hadn't returned yet, which gave Astrid pause, but she figured that no one would dare venture outside the safety of the tunnels again after what happened at the bottom of the canyon. She told herself that it was a safe bet to assume that they were simply talking with Flame's family.

"It tickles something fierce," Graves mumbled apologetically as his foreleg gave an involuntary twitch when Astrid regenerated and connected a nerve. A visible shudder ran down his spine, and the clubbed end of his tail thumped against the stone floor a few times.

The white Spirit dragoness had to resist the mighty urge to stick her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she worked to heal Graves's injury. She had been working for around fifteen minutes straight, and nearly had the wound completely healed. Her first order of business was to regenerate and reconnect the blood vessels, and then she built up the missing strip of muscle and fatty tissues, and then regrew and connected the nerves and nerve endings that crisscrossed through the Earth dragon's flesh. She hoped that she would have enough energy left in her to regenerate the skin over the injury; it would be a hassle to keep disinfected if she had to leave it open until the morning. She supposed that she would have to regenerate the thick scales over the next few days, since they were the third-most difficult things to regenerate or heal, after bones and horns.

A small mound of pity began to make itself known again in Astrid's heart as she continued to look at her new friend's injury. It had subsided substantially when Graves had opened his big, stupid mouth and told Flame's family that she was a Spirit dragon, but it had been there ever since she had pulled him out of the strange circle. She felt at least partially responsible for his injury, and felt obligated to heal him as much as she could even if she collapsed from exhaustion afterwards.

She could clearly 'see' the knot of pain, red and pulsating, in the Earth dragon's foreleg. Graves had been telling the truth when he said that it didn't cause him much pain at first, but once Astrid had started reconnecting the nerve endings, the size of the bundle of pain had increased exponentially. Every time she moved the leg, a smear of extra pain emanated from the main cluster and shot through the appendage like a jolt of electricity. The bundle of pain slowly unraveled and faded as she worked, which brought her a surprising amount of relief. She had only known Graves for a day and a half or so, but his pain concerned her nonetheless.

Graves flinched as she grasped his foreleg with her front paws and turned it slightly to better inspect her progress with her magical 'sight'. Astrid had been noticing that Graves's heart rate had been steadily rising as she worked. While his breaths still came in the same slow, even rhythm, his muscles had been becoming more and more tense as time went on until she could see the painful knots of tension in his shoulders.

"Don't worry," Astrid said casually, reaching up and patting him on the shoulder. "You're not gonna grow an extra head out of your leg or anything."

"I've got plenty of faith in you, miss Astrid," Graves rumbled quietly.

The Earth dragon's suddenly-formal words caused Astrid to raise her brows slightly. She brought her head up until she was at her full height, although she still had to look upwards a little bit to make eye contact with him. "Did I suddenly become a stranger to you or something?"

"Pardon?"

"You called me 'miss'."

"Oh." Graves dodged the Spirit dragoness's blind gaze.

Astrid snorted. "Did the blessing freak you out or something?"

"It wasn't that, exactly…" Graves sighed, closing his eyes. "Look, Astrid: if I would've known how Flame's folks were going to respond…"

"Mm, if only there was some sort of indication for you to shut your big mouth," Astrid grunted, rolling her eyes dramatically. Graves didn't respond to her, choosing to simply hang his head instead. She felt her heart soften at his obvious, unspoken apology. "If your only crime is being too honest, then you're alright in my book," she said. She turned her head down towards his injury, but kept her spectral 'sight' on his face to monitor his reaction. "You didn't know why I was acting like I was, and you just didn't catch on in time."

"I'm sorry," Graves huffed, shaking his head slowly. "I should've paid more attention to what you were saying."

Astrid pursed her lips as she began to regenerate the final few layers of skin over Graves's injury. The bundle of pain had almost completely disappeared, and only appeared as a small, transparent aura that encompassed his foreleg. "Well, while we're making apologies, I'm sorry too."

Graves blinked in surprise as he cocked his head down at her. "What for?"

"I was the one who yanked you out of that weird circle, leaving a chunk of you behind," she said quietly, absentmindedly sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she continued to work.

"Astrid," Graves rumbled gently, "Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't pulled me out of that circle?" He paused for a short few seconds, and Astrid slipped her tongue back inside her mouth as she realized that he was looking at it. "Actually, I know exactly what would've happened: I would've died where I stood. Flame was trying, bless his heart, but it took a _lot _of force from you to pull me out. You saved my life, Astrid, and I'll take a little bit of soreness over dying at the bottom of a canyon any day of the week."

Not sure what to say, Astrid lifted Graves's foreleg to inspect her handiwork one last time. Fresh, scaleless skin covered the wound; she was sure that the skin was sensitive and raw without the protection of the thick scales that usually covered it, but the risk of infection would be at a minimum. The spot of pain had disappeared almost completely, leaving only an afterimage of sorts behind. "I can help you regrow these scales over the next few days," she said casually, changing the subject.

"They'll regrow on their own, won't they?"

"Of course," Astrid said confidently, but a frown tugged the corners of her mouth downwards after a few seconds. "At least, they _should_, provided I did my job right."

"Like I said, I've got plenty of faith in you, Astrid," Graves said. Astrid let go of his foreleg and he raised himself up into a sitting position, putting a little bit of experimental weight on it. "I'll let them grow back on their own."

Astrid blinked in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Graves said with a sure nod. "It'll be a little reminder to look before I leap."

"It'll take at least a month for it to look normal again," Astrid pointed out, furrowing her brows in concern.

"Guess I'll just have to find another injury to serve as a reminder next month, then," he said with a shrug. "In the meantime, though, you need to lay down. You look like you're about to keel over."

Astrid opened her mouth to argue, but she knew that the Earth dragon was right. She tensed her hind legs experimentally, but she was only met with shakes. She was almost positive that she wasn't able to stand; the simple act of keeping her forelegs locked, head raised, and eyes open was taxing on the very last vestiges of her strength. "So you choose _now _to be perceptive," she griped, pursing her lips up at him as he stood and flexed his healed foreleg. "I'll just sleep here."

"That's a sitting cushion, not a sleeping one," Graves pointed out bluntly.

"I'm not a gigantic freak of nature, so I'll be able to sleep on it with no problem," she said, turning her nose up at the much larger dragon.

"Oh?" He challenged. "Go ahead and lay down, then."

Astrid opened her mouth, but shut it and swallowed back her biting remark. She sighed as she realized that he had called her bluff. "I don't think I can move," she muttered, hanging her head and admitting defeat. She sensed Graves moving towards the corner of the room, and 'watched' as he reached over and grabbed a large, flat sleeping cushion from the pile of four and sat it on the stone floor next to her.

"Can you lift yourself up at all?" Graves asked gently, turning towards her.

"Maybe," Astrid grumbled, gathering every last scrap of her remaining strength and pushing herself up off of the cushion.

She managed to lift her hind end a few inches, and was about to give up and collapse back onto the cushion, when Graves suddenly stuck both of his forelegs underneath her and lifted her up. She yelped in surprise at the unexpected force, and squirmed helplessly for a short moment as her exhausted brain coped with the novel experience. The Earth dragon adjusted his hold on her: he held her up with his forelegs in front of and behind her front and back legs, respectively. Astrid felt her cheeks heat up a few degrees as she realized that a male dragon was technically touching her in places that she had never been touched before.

Before she could fully process everything, though, Graves had turned around on his hind legs and gently sat her down on the plush cushion without so much as a grunt. _**Ancestors**__, he's strong, _Astrid mused privately to herself as he took a step back from her. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to ask permission before you… before you do whatever that was," she chuckled, blinking blearily to regain her bearings.

Graves offered a sheepish smile, but it fell and was replaced with a look of horror as realization dawned on him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You're fine," Astrid laughed tiredly, shuffling her wings against her sides and shakily resituating her legs underneath her. "Your paws didn't wander, and your intentions seem like they were pure."

"Sorry," Graves said again, hanging his head and taking another step backwards.

_He's a good guy… _Astrid gave a genuine smile that Graves didn't see; his gaze was down on the floor, and he quickly busied himself with picking up the cushion that Astrid had been sitting on and sitting it on the stack of similar cushions. "Tomorrow's probably gonna be a little rough," she said as she 'watched' Graves set the other three large cushions around the room for himself and the others to sleep on.

"You're pretty light; one of us could probably fly with you on our back," Graves offered.

Astrid bristled at his comment for a split second, but the tone of his voice told her that he was at least mostly joking. Forcing her grumpiness downwards, she said, "I'm pretty sure I'm only light to _you_. I'm bigger than both Flame and Ember are."

"You might have a point," Graves admitted.

"I don't even wanna think about the logistics of that, anyways."

Snickering, Graves stepped onto the large cushion next to Astrid's and sat down. "It'd probably be a sight, that's for sure." Silence fell in the room for a minute or so, and Astrid felt her eyelids drifting closed before the clubbed end of Graves's tail thunked against the stone floor as he resituated himself, breaking the quiet and bringing her back from the brink of sleep. "I've got a question for you, if you don't mind me asking it."

Astrid's eyelids opened fully again. Rolling onto her side with a huff, she said, "It's about the blessing thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

She sighed. "You've got about two minutes before I pass out. What do you want to know?"

"Sorry," Graves mumbled quietly, his voice apologetic. "I know you're not exactly _thrilled _about the voices of the Ancestors in your head, but why didn't you want Flame's family to know you're a Spirit dragon?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious."

"I wanted to know how you'd describe it."

Astrid closed her useless eyes and chewed her bottom lip in thought for a moment. "Some dragons treat Spirit dragons as holy, or deserving of worship, or somehow _above _them." She shook her head against the cushion, feeling each of her stiff muscles beginning to relax one by one. _Maybe I don't have two minutes before I fall asleep after all, _she mused privately. "And I'm none of those things. I'm flesh and blood, with all the wants, needs, and insecurities that anybody else has… Just a dragon, same as Firefly, Crucible, Boulder, and Sadie."

Graves was quiet while he digested her words for a few seconds. "Do you think that _any _Spirit dragons are worthy of worship for their innate abilities?"

"I don't think anybody's worthy of worship," Astrid murmured. "Nobody flesh and blood, anyways."

"Was that blessing you put on Sadie… was that _real_, I guess you could say?" Graves's words came hesitantly, as though he was scared of the answer.

Astrid cracked her eyes open to help stave off the velveteen blanket of sleep. "The short answer is… maybe. I can hear the whispers and songs of the Ancestors, true, but I can't exactly establish a line of communication. Maybe they can hear every thought that crosses my mind, or maybe they can't. Maybe they heard the blessing and have already forged a happier destiny for that little girl, or maybe I just put my paw on her and said some nice-sounding words that ultimately won't have any effect on her life or her future.

"Either way, the being... or force, or entity, or whatever you wanna call it... with the most importance to Sadie's future is Sadie. Whether she wants to be a Guardian of a dragon temple one day or a serial murderer living in some bloody foxhole in the woods, it's up to her." Astrid yawned hugely, turning her head to cover her mouth as she did so. "But there's an entire monastery full of monks that devote their entire lives to figuring out the will of the Ancestors and the meaning of life and living, so who knows if anything I'm saying is even true.

"In my opinion, though: outside forces might influence our destinies sometimes, but ultimately, we're in control. It's up to each individual to choose how they want to live," she finished, letting her eyes fall closed again.

Graves let out a small puff of air that couldn't quite be called a chuckle. "I'm inclined to agree, but sometimes those outside forces have a lot more control over our destinies than we do." He let out a sigh and laid down, resting his head on his paws but keeping his gaze on Astrid.

Astrid noticed a ghostly aura of pain begin to glow in Graves's chest, right between his lungs and just below his heart. _Heartache, _she noted, a pang of sympathy stabbing her in the gut.

"I'm sure all those dragons, moles, cheetahs… all those creatures didn't choose to be slaughtered by Malefor or Cynder, or their armies," Graves said after a few seconds of hesitation. The tone of his voice told Astrid that he wanted to say more, but he refrained for some reason.

Astrid frowned. "I suppose fate's grip on our lives tightens and loosens every now and then. Sometimes we're free to do whatever we want with our lives, and sometimes we're backed into a corner and forced to stare death in the eyes… I guess even then, though, we get to choose how we get to meet our own end," she said, choosing her words carefully. "But it's up to dragons like us to make sure nobody gets backed into a corner like that again. We can fight against any darkness that might rear its ugly head so that others can live without fear of pain or death.

"That's why I enrolled in the Guardian program: I might not have an elemental ability, but I can use my gifts to protect the souls that live in this world," she continued. "Even if I never have the title of Guardian, I can still guard them and keep them safe." Astrid noticed that Graves was staring thoughtfully at her, but instead of feeling self-conscious like she expected to, she felt surprisingly at ease with his watchful gaze upon her.

"I enrolled in the Guardian program for a similar reason," Graves admitted, his voice tinged with a sadness that surprised Astrid. "Once upon a time, I failed to protect somebody. I guess I feel like I've gotta make it up to them by doing my best to protect others."

"That's as good of a reason as there can be," Astrid murmured, a sleepy smile on her face. "Anyways…" She yawned again. "I think my time's up."

"Sorry for keeping you up; I know you need sleep."

"Seems like we're making a habit of having late-night conversations," Astrid mused.

"Can't say it's a very bad habit."

"Mmhm," Astrid hummed in agreement. "Sleep well, Graves."

"Sleep well, Astrid," Graves said quietly, and Astrid noticed a small smile on his face. "And thanks for humoring me."

"Anytime," she murmured, scarcely conscious of her own words as she leaned into the warm embrace of sleep.

* * *

**(A/N)****: This one turned out a little longer than I anticipated... There's an even longer one coming down the pipe, though, so stay tuned! Hope y'all enjoy. **


	13. Chapter 13

**ll ll **Content warning: blood, minor body horror** ll ll **

* * *

The four Guardian trainees flew well over two miles above the ground, allowing the strong northerly wind that blew at that altitude to push them along much faster than they could fly on their own. They flew in a diamond formation: Graves took the lead with Sparx lounging about on his head, Flame and Ember flew on either side of him, and Astrid brought up the rear. The Spirit dragoness was as well-rested as she could be, given the circumstances, but her temper was noticeably short and her head drooped slowly downwards as the day wore on.

Firefly, Crucible, Boulder, and Sadie had all congregated at the top of the canyon to meet the travelers before they headed out again. Firefly had tearfully hugged Flame long enough that the other three young dragons began to feel a little awkward, and Crucible made him promise to bow and show proper respect to Spyro when he finally found him. Finally, with their bellies full of a hearty breakfast and their bags stuffed to the brim with jerky, jars of preserves, and assorted snacks from Firefly, they had said their farewells and took to the air until Flame's family were nothing but colorful smudges against the monochromatic brown sand and sandstone.

The party flew for hours on end. The land below them slowly became more verdant and lush as they left the canyonlands desert and flew over the rolling foothills and forests that Graves didn't have a name for. A few silvery creeks snaked through the grassy fields and dense forests alike, the afternoon sun glinting off of them like gigantic jewels. The northward horizon before them slowly became fuzzy and uneven as they traveled, causing Graves to cock his head in confusion. Geography had never been his strong suit, so he pointed out his observation to the other dragons.

"Oh!" Ember said, flapping her wings a few times until she was even with the Earth dragon. "Those are the Glacierscar mountains. Or rather, the southernmost peaks of them."

"I thought Glacierscar was a frozen wasteland," Graves pondered, glancing at the pink dragoness out of the corner of his eye.

"_Glacierscar _is, but the mountain range extends pretty far south," Ember clarified, raising her voice so that she could be heard over the howling wind rushing over their ears.

"Hold on; look!" Flame exclaimed suddenly, cutting off Graves's response. "Smoke!" He pointed downwards to a pillar of greasy black smoke that rose from the edge of what looked to be a village or settlement.

Graves set his jaw. _If you see an urgent need, do __**not **__pass it by, _Terrador's deep voice echoed through the Earth dragon's head. He glanced back at Flame, Ember, and Astrid in turn, and each of them gave a quick nod of assent as his gaze fell upon them.

"Hang on, Sparx!" Graves called. He tucked his wings close to his body and felt his stomach perform a few flips as he fell into a steep dive. He heard Sparx holler something in alarm and hang on tightly to one of his horns. The wind began to whistle noisily in his ears as his body hurtled towards the ground at an exhilarating rate. Graves had to squint his eyes in order to see in the harsh wind, but he could see something large and pinkish-red at the edge of the village as he opened his wings up and gently pulled himself out of his dive. He leveled off about a hundred feet above the ground and glided for a few hundred yards to bleed off some of his speed, and squinted again to get a better look at whatever it was that was causing trouble for the village. The village was still over a mile away, but the leftover speed from his dive caused the tops of the trees below him to whiz by in green blurs.

"Flame, Ember, Astrid!" Graves called, glancing back to see that the other three were still right behind him. "Looks like we're gonna be up against a single enemy, but it's big. What's your preferred fighting style?"

"It doesn't matter to me," Flame called back. "Ranged or melee; I can do either."

"I like to keep my distance," Ember said, her voice weak and unsteady compared to Flame's.

"I usually… swap back and forth between… melee and ranged attacks," Astrid barked, her words coming in between huffs of breath.

"I think I'll hang back and save my strength," Sparx offered from atop Graves's head.

Graves let out a growl, but it was snatched away by the wind before it could even reach his own ears. He knew that Astrid was tired as it was, and her healing abilities apparently used her own stamina instead of mana like normal elemental abilities. She had passed Terrador's combat portion of the entrance exam with no noticeable injuries, but he had no idea how well or energy-efficiently she could fight. A little voice in the back of Graves's head told him to force her to stay behind the front lines and save her energy in case someone got hurt, but the Guardians were coming up on the besieged village quickly, and he knew that he had to make a call.

"Ember: you stay back and take potshots whenever you've got a clear shot. Flame will engage the creature from up close, and I'll put a barrier in front of the village before helping in melee range. Astrid, you help us keep this thing from regaining its footing, but conserve as much of your energy as you possibly can in case somebody gets hurt. Is that clear?" Graves barked, keeping his gaze locked forwards on the creature that was attacking the village.

"Let's kick this thing's ass!" Flame whooped, flapping his wings until he had flown a little bit in front of Graves.

"Okay!" Ember replied tentatively.

"Got it," Astrid barked, sounding unhappy that she had been ordered to stay back.

Graves set his jaw as he beat his wings a little bit harder. Adrenaline filled his veins and his heartbeat quickened: he was hurtling towards a fight, and a small part of him became excited.

"Here we go," Graves growled, but his voice was lost to the wind. Sparx chose that moment to evacuate, although Graves didn't spare the attention to see where the little dragonfly buzzed off to.

The forest below the Guardian candidates gave way to an open meadow, nearly a mile across, with the besieged village situated in the center. Graves quickly flapped his wings a few times as the group neared the monster, gaining a little bit of extra height, before folding his wings completely at his sides and dropping like a rock from almost a hundred feet in the air. As he fell, he unclasped the strap that held his bags to his body and allowed them to fall onto the grassy ground below. The Earth dragon collected his element in each of his paws and slammed into the ground a few dozen yards away from the monster with bone-snapping force. Graves grunted with exertion as he bent his unharmed legs and broke out into a full-on spring towards the monster while his element traveled through the ground like a fish through a pond.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Graves got his first proper look at the monster that besieged the village. The pinkish-red blob that he had seen from the air turned out to be a horrifying amalgamation of flesh, fur, bone, and sinew. The creature reminded Graves almost of an ape, with its broad shoulders and short, thin legs, but it stood nearly twenty feet tall even while it was hunched forwards. Its body was made up of what looked to be dozens of deceased bodies, all of them in various states of decay. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the way that the creature's flesh was arranged: there was more exposed muscle, bone, and sinew than fur, and Graves thought he recognized everything from mole to ape to wolf fur. It didn't have a head or a neck, but dozens of differently-shaped eyeballs, each of them looking in a different direction, were congregated in the area where an ape's collarbones would meet.

A ring of thick, straight tree trunks had been sunk into the ground surrounding the village, but the creature had more than enough bulk and strength to tear through it like paper. The beast stood steadily on top of the fallen, splintered tree trunks that it had knocked down, swinging wildly at the inhabitants of the village. Graves noted that the wolf villagers were trying to keep the beast at bay, but it seemed to have very little self-preservation instincts.

_**Shit**, it's a wolf village, _Graves realized, nearly stumbling as he rapidly approached the beast. _Why's it gotta be a __wolf __village? _The upsetting realization didn't have much time to percolate through his brain, though, as his Earth bomb that had been traveling through the ground finally reached its target. A diagonal pillar of stone suddenly burst from the ground and struck the abomination in the stomach, lifting it off of the ground by a few feet and making it stagger backwards.

A pair of draconic roars sounded from above him: Flame and Astrid landed in front of the creature, shucking off their bags and dipping into fighting stances. Flame hesitated and took a step backwards as he beheld the grotesque creature, but Astrid wasted no time. The creature began to swing its massive arm at the white Spirit dragoness, but she flapped her wings and twisted her head just as a harsh _crack_ echoed through the air. A visible shockwave traveled up the creature's arm for a split second, and a small waterfall of blood began to fall from it for a few seconds.

Flame shook his head and opened his mouth as Astrid took a few agile steps backwards out of his firing line. His throat glowed with a threatening red light as he inhaled, and with an ear-splitting roar, a maelstrom of fire erupted from his gullet. The creature staggered backwards as the entire upper portion of its body was burned to a blackened, greasy crisp. Before the creature could regain its footing, both Flame and Astrid rushed forwards. Flame lowered his head and leapt upwards to charge into its lower abdomen with his horns. Astrid flapped her wings and whipped her tail in the abomination's direction, and a diagonal shockwave caused blood to erupt from its shoulder to its hip.

Graves gathered his Earth element in his paws again, reared up on his hind legs, and slammed his front paws into the ground. Three flat walls of stone, twenty feet square and two or three feet thick, rose from the ground in between the creature and the village's wooden walls. Graves knew that the walls wouldn't hold the abomination for long if it decided to rush the village again, but it would slow it down at least a little bit. As he turned to face the beast again, his paw bumped against something on the ground: he glanced down to see the body of a young-looking wolf, which was still clutching the broken haft of a spear in one of its paws.

The wolf's lifeless eyes seemed to stare up at Graves, and he froze for a handful of seconds as his eyes locked with the wolf's. There was no visible, mortal injury on his body, but a trickle of blood leaked from his nose and mouth, staining his grey fur.

An explosion rocked Graves's senses and brought his attention back to the fight at hand. Ember coughed another fireball into the creature's eyes, knocking it back onto its back as it attempted to rise to its feet again. The creature wiped at its multitude of eyes with the blackened ends of its arms in an attempt to wipe away the soot and burnt flesh, but it apparently had been blinded for good.

"Stand back!" Graves shouted, raising his tail into the air before slamming it into the ground. Fissures suddenly appeared underneath the creature's arms and closed almost as quickly, trapping the abomination in place. The Earth dragon closed his eyes and willed nearly every ounce of magic in his body to flow out of his core and into his paws, which tingled from the repeated impacts with the ground.

The creature, seemingly sensing that it was in peril, struggled against its earthen bonds with a renewed fervor. It managed to exhume one of its arms, but it was too late: Graves flapped his wings once and hung in the air as the ground beneath him began to shake. The Earth dragon lifted his head for a split second before feeling himself fall back down towards the ground with an earth-shaking _**boom**_.

A massive spike of stone burst from the creature's chest as it was impaled from underneath. The abomination struggled weakly for a short few seconds, then grew completely and utterly still.

"Well that wasn't so bad," Flame said, giving a high-pitched laugh as the dust settled back onto the ground.

Astrid let out a groan and collapsed onto her haunches, hanging her head and letting her wings unceremoniously droop onto the ground. "What the ever-loving _hell _even is that thing?"

Before Graves could respond, though, a harsh shout made all four dragons jump and whirl around, hunkering back down into fighting stances. "_Dragons!_" A young-looking wolf strode angrily towards them, his spear in his hand but not brandished. "Come to take even _more _from us? What's your toll this time?"

"What? Of course not!" Flame exclaimed immediately, running to Graves's side. Astrid and Ember walked over to his position as well, and stood slightly behind him. "We saw smoke and wanted to help!"

"How _generous _of you," the wolf sneered, his voice positively dripping with venom. A small group of similarly young wolves strode up behind him; nearly all of them were sporting some sort of wound or limp. Each of them wore a similar leather tunic that exposed a large portion of their well-muscled chests. Their fur was dark grey and matted, with mud or water in some places and blood in others. "And exactly what do we have to give you in return?"

"We were just trying to help," Graves said as patiently as he could, waving a forepaw in a hopefully-placating manner. "We didn't even know that this was a wolf village."

"Then leave," the lead wolf growled, clenching his spear tighter in his paw. One of the other wolves behind him nocked an arrow in his bow, and leveled it at the quartet of dragons without pulling the string back. "_Now_," the wolf added, taking an aggressive step forward.

"What if another one of those things pays another visit?" Graves asked.

"Are you threatening us?" The wolf accused, pointing a harsh claw at the green dragon.

"Of course I'm not!" Graves shouted, rolling his eyes.

"Graves," Astrid barked, nudging him on the hindquarters, "We should get out of here."

"Roto!" An old wolf called, limping away from the village and towards the group of younger wolves. "Leave them be; they mean us no harm."

The wolf that had been called Roto curled his upper lip, showing bloodied fangs. "It should be _them _that leaves _us _be," he growled, not bothering to turn his head to address the old wolf as he approached the group of youngsters. "This is our home, and they're trespassing." The archer behind Roto drew his bowstring to his cheek, the arrow aimed squarely at Graves's chest.

"Graves, let's go," Ember whispered, sounding very worried. "_Now_. They don't want us here."

The Earth dragon set his jaw. Adrenaline was still surging through his veins from the fight with the abomination of flesh, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that Astrid and Ember were right. Wolves and dragons as a whole weren't on the friendliest terms, and were antagonistic and rude on even the best of days. _If only we had risked our lives and safety to defend their village, _Graves grumbled internally, _Then maybe they'd have a reason to at least __**act **__grateful. _"Fine; be that way," he said, waving a paw at them. "We'll b-"

_Bzz-thwip. _

Graves's brain registered Flame's shuddering gasp before it registered the buzz of the bowstring and the hum of the arrow through the air, millimeters away from his shoulder.

An unyielding rage instantaneously rose to a boil in his chest. Graves snarled ferociously and raised his front paws off the ground. He was winded from his Fury attack that finished off the abomination, but he had more than enough energy left to bury the wolves alive. Before he could activate his attack, though, an unseen force took hold of one of his horns and pulled hard enough to make a few of the vertebrae in his neck pop, causing him to crash onto his side in a heap. He scrambled back to his feet, fury in his eyes, but an unexpected, warm weight was suddenly draped over his back.

"_Graves!_" Astrid bellowed, her own fury rivaling the Earth dragon's. She took hold of one of his horns again and turned him towards her as she pointed up to the sky with a single talon. "_Fly! __**NOW**__!_"

Graves blinked as the rage that had blinded him filtered from his mind. He glanced backwards to see Flame's face as he lay on Graves's back: his eyes were wide and his mouth was dropped open in shock, an arrow sticking out of his neck, slightly to the right of center. Graves's heart leapt into his throat as he saw the young fire-breather's injury.

"Am I gonna die?" Flame whispered hoarsely, an unsettling rattle beginning to creep into each of his breaths. The young dragon inhaled sharply and spasmed slightly on Graves's back, which told him that the pain had begun to replace the shock.

The fury that had boiled throughout Graves's veins cooled and solidified in an instant, causing his limbs to feel like they had been replaced with lead. A pair of short bursts of wind billowed over him as Astrid and Ember took to the air, shaking him out of his shocked reverie.

Graves glanced over to the group of wolves, a surprisingly-calm hatred in his eyes. The young group of wolves seemed to be almost happy that one of the dragons was mortally wounded, while the older wolf had a resigned, sad look on his face.

Graves spread his wings and took off as gently as he could, making sure to jostle his delicate cargo as little as possible.

**~...~...~...~**

**(****A/N****): So. A lot happened in this chapter. **

**It's been a while since I've written an action scene, so any feedback is welcome.**

**Edit: forgot to add the content warning. Sorry about that. **


	14. Chapter 14

**ll ll Content warning: Blood, injury ll ll**

* * *

Ember watched her friends with a sick feeling in her gut.

Astrid and Flame were both motionless, save for the steady rise and fall of their sides as they breathed. The Spirit dragoness held both of her paws a few inches above the arrow that stuck out of Flame's neck, her eyes closed in intense concentration.

Ember idly wished that Astrid's healing abilities were visible so that she could see how much progress was being made. She considered speaking up and asking her directly, but the white dragoness had been in an understandably foul mood ever since they had landed and she didn't want to break her concentration.

The quartet of dragons and Sparx had only flown about fifteen minutes away from the wolf village before stopping to make a quick camp by the side of a clear creek-fed lake. Ember knew that it wasn't a good idea to linger so close to the wolf camp for too long, but Flame needed medical attention sooner rather than later.

Astrid had shouted at Graves for being foolish and stubborn when they had first landed and she had removed Flame from his back, but she had quickly shaken her head and said that she had better things to do. The Earth dragon had murmured that he was going to gather wood for a fire and forage for supplies; each of the four Guardian candidates had dropped their bags near the wolf village to fight, so they had lost the jerky and preserves that Firefly had so kindly given them for their journey. Ember wondered what they were going to do about the Spyro locator, which was stored in Astrid's bag. She supposed that one of them could sneak back to the wolf village under the cover of night, but there was no way of knowing if the bags were even still where they had left them.

The mid-afternoon sunlight was hidden by a stone cliff that leaned outwards over the edge of the lake, allowing the trio of dragons to sit in the cool, humid shade below. Ember had unspoken misgivings about their choice of campsite: she had just spent the night in a cave, unable to take to the air and fly, and now a massive stone overhang hung over her head. She realized, with no small amount of discomfort, that she was at the mercy of the slow weathering process that formed the overhang in the first place. She offered a quick, silent prayer to the Ancestors that the stone wouldn't collapse under its own weight while they were camped underneath it.

Flame gave a hoarse whimper as Astrid continued to heal him. The red dragon was scarcely conscious as he laid limply on his side. Each breath that he took was accompanied by an unsettling rattle, which told Ember that his trachea had been nicked and blood was seeping into his airway. If the steady trickle of blood that flowed out of Flame's mouth was any indication, then Astrid was pulling double duty by simultaneously keeping his lungs and throat clear of blood and trying to heal as much of his wound as possible.

Ember took a step closer, trying to get a better view, but the tip of Astrid's tail suddenly twitched and she backed away again. Sparx hovered nearby, fidgeting nervously with his tiny hands. Both of them shared a worried glance as the silent seconds ticked by; the little dragonfly had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since he had reunited with the Guardian candidates and caught sight of Flame's injury.

"It'll be alright," Astrid breathed, although Ember wasn't sure who she was talking to.

"Is there anything at all I can do to help?" Ember murmured, feeling the tight knot of worry in her chest coil a little bit further.

"Yes, actually." The gravel crunched as Astrid leaned back and rested her weight on her front paws again. "I need your help pulling the arrow out."

Flame's eyes suddenly widened in fear, but he clearly didn't have the strength to protest. "No," he whispered weakly, his head moving ever-so-slightly from side to side.

"I'll put you to sleep in a minute," Astrid said as she scooted herself over and beckoned Ember to her side. "You won't feel a thing."

"No, please," Flame whispered, his eyes fluttering open and closed every few seconds as he drifted in and out of lucidity. "Momma, I don't wanna…" He reached up and loosely gripped Astrid's wrist. "No, momma, it's gonna hurt…"

_Sixteen years old... __**Ancestors**__, he really is just a kid. _Ember mentally lamented, but a voice in the back of her head immediately replied, _So are you. _

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Ember stepped towards Flame and lowered her head. As she saw him up close, a wave of hopelessness washed over her and nearly knocked her off her paws. Ember had seen that the gravel underneath Flame's mouth ran red with blood that Astrid had cleared from his airway, but she hadn't been able to see the sheer volume of blood he had lost. His sides rose and fell with every shallow, rapid breath that he took. The fiery glint that Ember was accustomed to seeing in his eyes had vanished, and had been replaced with a dull sheen that reminded her of glass.

Sparx mumbled an excuse and flew away to the shore of the lake, about thirty feet away from the trio of dragons.

_How does Astrid expect to heal something like this? _Ember moaned internally. _This is just hubris… Ancestors, what if his carotid artery got nicked? Fixing a missing patch of skin is one thing, but… _

Astrid reached over and gently placed her paw on Flame's forehead much the same as she had done with Sadie, seemingly weeks ago. "_Sleep_," she breathed, interrupting Ember's internal, defeatist ponderings. Flame's eyes fluttered closed almost immediately, and a tear that had been brimming his eye fell to the side and slid across the bridge of his snout.

Slumping slightly, Astrid heaved a sigh. "It's a good thing this wasn't a broad-tipped arrow," she muttered, reaching up and massaging her forehead with both front paws. "We'd have some real problems otherwise."

_Glad this isn't a 'real problem', then, _Ember snarked internally as she took in Flame's limp form, unable to look away. "What do I need to do?"

"Well, first," Astrid said, shaking herself lightly and leaning over Flame's side again. She flexed the talons on both of her front paws and pressed them against the side of his neck, right where the head of the arrow would be. "I need you to _gently _grab the arrow and pull it out by about two inches. Don't move it in _**any**_ other direction, or else you'll undo all the work I've done so far."

Ember worked her tongue inside her mouth for a second, realizing that it felt as dry as the canyonlands desert that they had just left. "Okay," she said hesitantly, her chest feeling tight. She sat on her hindquarters in front of Flame and raised her shaking paws. "I think I'm ready."

"No," Astrid said suddenly, making Ember jump.

"No?"

"No." the white dragoness shook her head. "Don't _think _you're ready. _Be _ready, or go somewhere else. I don't have any use for you if you only _think_ you're ready."

A small burst of confidence bloomed in Ember's chest. She nodded, knowing that Astrid would 'see' it, and gently grasped the end of the arrow with both of her front paws. "I'm ready… Two inches?"

"Two inches," Astrid echoed, nodding as well. "Pull it straight out, slow and steady."

As Ember began to pull on the arrow shaft, she was shocked to feel how much force she had to exert. She could feel flesh tearing and moving around the arrowhead as the shaft was partially removed, making her stomach turn. A bitter, acrid taste hit the back of her throat and burned, but she ignored the disgusting sensation and finished pulling the arrow out of Flame's flesh by around two inches.

"Don't move," Astrid murmured, her brows furrowed in deep concentration as she pressed her paws into Flame's side, leaving Ember alone with her thoughts. The pads of her paws prickled with the memory of the way it felt to pull the arrow through Flame's body. As she sat there, her eyes locked on the single scale that had been broken and pierced by the arrow shaft, she realized that she could feel his heartbeat through the wood of the arrow shaft.

"_His heartbeat_," Ember mouthed silently to herself, hot tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. _He's been shot in the neck with a bow, and his heart's still beating_, she thought, summoning every ounce of her willpower to keep her lower lip from quivering. Her friend clung to life despite his grave injury: his heart kept beating and his lungs kept filling with air, heedless of the calamity that would have been wrought on his body if the arrow had ended up a half-inch to the left or right. Without realizing it, Ember began to sync her breaths with his.

"_Ember_!" Astrid barked, causing her to jump. "You still with me?"

"Yeah," she said quickly, turning her head and using the leading edge of each of her wings to wipe the tears away from her eyes. "Sorry."

"I said that you can let go now," Astrid chuckled, slumping to the side and hanging her head. "I need a break." As the pink dragoness let go of the arrow, a pair of milky eyes moved in her direction. "The arrowhead nicked both his carotid artery and his trachea on the way in, so I needed to hold both of those out of the way while you pulled the arrow out."

"Oh," Ember said simply, not sure of what else to say.

"The arrow's only got another inch and a half or so until it's out, but it's plugging everything up and keeping things from bleeding right now."

Ember frowned. "So you're not worried about the rest of the injury?"

"Arrows make for a pretty stable wound," Astrid said, her voice almost casual. "As long as nothing important like your lungs, heart, brain, or spinal cord get hit, infection is the biggest thing you have to worry about. Even if the arrow had gone straight through a major artery, the arrow would plug the hole that it just made, so hemorrhaging would take a while to be a problem. In fact, if you can't get to a healer right away, it's best to leave an arrow right where it is." She winced. "Granted, it won't exactly tickle, but you won't bleed out."

Ember's stomach turned. "Oh," she said simply, earning herself a frown from the white Spirit dragoness.

"Flame's tough," Astrid said confidently, reaching over and roughly patting her on the shoulder. "He'll be fine; don't you worry.

"Thanks to you," Ember added, her gaze locked on the bloody gravel beneath Flame's agape mouth. "Why would that wolf shoot at us like that?" She asked suddenly, voicing the confusion that she had silently carried ever since they had fled the wolf village.

"You know, I used to hate all those anatomy and healing lessons at the monastery," Astrid said casually, causing Ember to quirk an eyebrow at her. "They're definitely coming in handy, though."

Ember blinked. "What?"

Astrid's face fell as she sighed. She opened her mouth with a smack of her lips, but shut it again after a short second. "I'd gone a whole couple of minutes without being pissed off about this whole thing," she finally muttered, rolling her milky eyes. "Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think the wolf was aiming at Graves and missed."

"Why, though? We were trying to help," Ember whispered, furrowing her brow as frustrated tears threatened to brim her eyes.

"You can't tell me _you _of all dragons don't know, brainiac," Astrid scoffed, shaking her head at the pink dragoness.

"But… _why_? Graves didn't even make a move to attack."

Astrid's expression hardened. "What's done is done. It's not even worth the mental energy at this point." She straightened up again, positioning her paws above Flame's neck again. "Anyways, I'm rested enough. Give me another ten minutes or so, and then we'll finish pulling the arrow out, alright?"

The lump in Ember's throat grew painful, and she swallowed hard to make sure her voice was steady. "Right. I'm ready when you are," she said, quietly but confidently, as Astrid straightened up again and began to press gently on the side of Flame's neck.

_Hang in there, Flame, _Ember mentally whispered, setting her jaw and steeling her nerves as she silently watched Astrid continue to heal her new friend.

* * *

Astrid's eyelids fluttered open as the veil of sleep was slowly pulled from her mind. "_Shit_," she muttered, raising her head and quickly expanding her perception to the entire lakeside. Birds and squirrels flitted and jumped through the trees that brimmed the lake, and Flame slept fitfully on the gravel next to her, but she didn't detect any other signs of life. The lake was even devoid of fish, which was a realization that her empty stomach didn't appreciate, and Sparx, Graves, and Ember were nowhere to be found.

_At least least this place didn't start crawling with wolves while I had my little nap, _she grumbled inwardly, lowering her head on top of her paws and letting her useless eyes fall closed again. _You're supposed to stick around and protect the rest of your party instead of running off, Ember. _

A small shiver ran down her spine. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, but the air around her had grown noticeably cooler. Not for the first time in her life, she wished that her spectral 'sight' allowed her to tell what time of day it was. She frowned at the cold; depending on how high in the mountains they were, it might become bitterly cold overnight. "Graves better hurry up with that firewood," she muttered, feeling her heart rate rise in anger. "Unless he got eaten by a bear or something… Although it'd save me the effort of killing him myself, I guess." She rolled her eyes.

Directing her attention to the sleeping Fire dragon next to her, she tiredly inspected her handiwork and checked to make sure no unexpected complications had arisen. The arrow had been removed, his carotid artery and trachea had been healed, and the bleeding had been staunched, but Astrid had been utterly unable to heal him any further without needing medical attention herself. She had roused him from the deep, magically-induced sleep with the last reserves of her strength, but the red dragon hadn't fully awoken yet.

She could call his condition 'stable', but that was all that she could call it.

Astrid's eyelids snapped open on instinct as she sensed that someone was approaching. She weakly focused her energy in their direction, and she could tell that they were sapient and vaguely dragon-shaped, but that was all she could ascertain.

"Ember?" Astrid called, standing as calmly and smoothly as she could. She spread her paws in a fighting stance that she hoped looked a lot more threatening than she felt. A second cross-country flight in a row, fighting a fleshy abomination, and healing Flame's injury had taken its toll on her. She wasn't sure if she could fight off a fox in her condition, let alone a bear or mountain lion.

"It's me," Ember called back.

Astrid sighed with relief and unceremoniously let herself crash back down onto the gravel with a careless huff of air. "Welcome back," Astrid grunted, letting her chin rest against the ground.

"I tried to go hunting, but there's not much large wildlife in the southern Glacierscar foothills," Ember said apologetically as she approached. "Or the rest of the glacierscars, for that matter. The biggest animals that live around here are coyotes, and even those are few and far between. We might be able to catch enough squirrels or rabbits to fill us up, but those might be more trouble than they're worth."

Astrid grumbled weakly at the news. She considered haranguing the pink dragoness about leaving her and Flame without anyone to defend them or keep watch, but she figured she could do that later, when she had more energy. "What's that?" She asked as the pink Fire dragoness stopped in front of her and sat down.

"These," Ember said, reaching up with her right paw and grabbing something that was tucked into a bundle underneath her left wing, "Are a bunch of edible plants and herbs I was able to find. They're not exactly flank steak, and some of them aren't much better than water, but they should do in a pinch. I found wild onions, stonecrop, willroot…"

"That's pretty impressive," Astrid's brows raised in surprise. "You're positive you're not gonna accidentally poison us though, right?"

"I'm positive," Ember shook her head with a smile as though Astrid was joking. "I've got a good memory."

Astrid eyes the plant that Ember presented to her warily; it looked just the same as any other to her. "If you're sure… I can't really say I took you for much of a forager."

"I like books of any kind… Including survival manuals," Ember said sheepishly, dropping her bundle of plants onto the gravel lakebed. "Do you have any idea where Graves is? I need him to make a mortar and pestle so that we can actually eat these."

"Haven't seen him, no," Astrid muttered as casually as she could despite the flare of anger that flashed in her chest. "Although I wouldn't be too upset if I didn't see that…" she cut herself off. "That _fella _for a couple of days."

"Oh." Ember was quiet for a moment. "It'd be best if we grind these up so we can actually digest these… I guess I could find a couple of flat rocks and mill them instead."

"I'd help if I could," Astrid 'watched' idly as Ember sat down her bundle of plants and began to browse the perimeter of the lake for a pair of flat stones. After a little while, she was able to find a pair that didn't have too many high spots. The pink dragoness cleaned them off in the lake and hefted them over to where Flame and Astrid were laying before sandwiching a pawful of the plants between them. "Ember," Astrid said after a few moments of watching her grind the leaves and stems into paste, "You're pretty smart. Do you know what it was that we fought?"

Ember glanced up from her work. "I barely even have a guess. Do you?"

"Not a clue… What's your guess, though?"

"Well," Ember tilted her head back and forth a few times as though she was rolling the thoughts around in her head, "Necromancy is a well-documented form of magic, taboo as it is. But that _thing_… I wouldn't even know where to start if I wanted to do research on it. I wouldn't know what to even _call _it. Any mention of necromancy I've ever read about involves a single body being reanimated at a time; if there's multiple bodies involved, they still remain individuals."

Astrid nodded tiredly as she absorbed the information. "I wish I could offer some sort of insight."

"Bad as this might sound," Ember murmured, a visible shudder running down her spine, "The best case scenario is that that abomination is just some sort of weird necromancy that I've never read nor heard about."

A grim silence fell over the lakeside, broken only by the grinding sound of Ember's makeshift mill. "I don't like what the alternative would imply," Astrid murmured, feeling her stomach begin to tie itself into knots. The world had just gotten rid of the existential, universal threat of Malefor and its dark armies; Astrid had hoped, perhaps naively, that the world at large would be able to enjoy at least a few decades of peace before some new threat reared its ugly, evil head.

"Or maybe… maybe it's some sort of advanced telekinesis, and it was just a puppet that was controlled from a distance…" Ember mumbled to herself as she scraped the fine paste from the stones and placed another pawful of fresh plants onto them. "But if that was the case, then we probably wouldn't have been able to kill it as easily as we did…"

"You'd call that 'easy'?" Astrid scoffed. "I'm glad there was four of us and one of it."

"Then again, overpowering the telekinetic matrix that held it together would have the same effect as killing it," Ember continued, seemingly ignoring the white dragoness. "Graves's fury attack might've used up all the energy that the puppeteer had… But if someone or some_thing_ had telekinesis that strong, it would be a waste to create and control a puppet like that. It would be easier to just smash up the village with an invisible fist." She shook her head. "None of this makes any sense. Did you notice anything weird about that thing?"

"Besides the fact that it's a gut-clenchingly horrifying affront to nature?" Astrid snorted. "Not really, n-" she paused for a second as she was struck by a realization. "Actually, now that I'm thinking about it… I don't remember seeing that thing's consciousness."

Ember blinked in surprise. "You can see consciousnesses?"

"Of course," Astrid nodded, but her head was growing steadily heavier with the weight of their conversation. "I can tell that Flame's dreaming right now… I can't tell what he's dreaming about, but I can see it."

"So… you think it wasn't sapient, then?"

"No, I mean… I don't think it had a mind of its own at all. Or if it did, it was dumber than a cow or a sheep." Astrid's lips drew themselves into a tight line. "Seems like your puppet theory might have a little more weight than you thought."

Ember winced as she scraped another batch of plant paste from the makeshift millstones. She offered the unappetizing goo to the Spirit dragoness, who tiredly presented an upturned paw. "Well, here's hoping that I'm completely wrong, and that abomination was just some sort of angry forest spirit or something, and there's no greater threat that we need worry about," she said, scooping up a pawful of her own paste and tapping her paw against Astrid's.

"Hear, hear," Astrid said as they shared a glance and a mirthless chuckle. She slapped her paw onto her opened mouth and swallowed as quickly as she could before she had a chance to gag. She felt the slime slide down her throat and into her stomach, making her shudder, but her bile stayed where it was.

"Mm, _earthy_," Ember grunted, pulling a face as she worked her stained-green tongue inside her mouth.

"Graves better come back with an entire _flock _of sheep for us," Astrid grumbled, feeling a tiny bit of her strength return to her limbs as her body began to break down the food. "Between flying, fighting, and healing, there's not enough of me to go around."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll come across another Spirit dragon along the way," Ember shrugged. "They're not ultra-rare or anything, so it should be easy."

"That'd be nice."

Ember cocked her head, her smile fading slightly. "Speaking of… Was that telekinesis you were fighting with? I never saw you even touch that monster."

"You mean the all-knowing Ember doesn't know what Spirit dragons can do?" Astrid's brow rose playfully.

"Not even _books _are sure about Spirit dragons' abilities," Ember sighed. "I'm sure Volteer or Cyril will be penning an entire book all about you and what you can do."

"Delightful," Astrid rolled her eyes before chewing the inside of her cheek as she pondered how best to answer Ember's question. "Well, I guess you could _sorta _call it telekinesis. Just like how I can 'see' the Aether in the world around me, I can also interact with it a little bit." She raised a single talon as she activated her ability, lifting a single pebble from the gravel lakebed with practiced ease. Ember's mouth formed a fascinated 'o', which amused Astrid more than she thought it would.

"If I concentrate hard enough, I can move part of someone's body by a millimeter or two and then back again faster than the speed of sound," Astrid continued, "Which doesn't exactly _tickle _the recipient."

Ember furrowed her brow. "I thought only purple dragons could shape Aether."

"I can't exactly use it as a breath weapon," Astrid chuckled, "But all Spirit dragons can shape Aether like that. There's even a theory that _all _dragons can, with the right training." She shrugged. "Even if that wasn't true, though, I'm still not the only one that can interact with Aether."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember the statues in the weird circle in the canyonlands?"

"They're a little hard to forget, Astrid."

"The reason I couldn't see them is because they were completely devoid of Aether, remember?"

Ember's eyes widened. "You think the Aether was stolen from them? Or… sucked out of them, or something?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but that's the only theory I've got so far." Astrid shrugged again. "Granted, I don't even know why you'd want to steal the life out of a dozen or so creatures. Maybe for funsies, or-"

Both dragonesses stiffened as Astrid's words died in her throat.

"S-surely you don't…" Ember began, a look of mounting horror etched on her face. "Surely you d-don't think that…"

"That the life and Aether was stolen from the 'statues' in the circle and used to power that monster?" Astrid finished for her. Both dragonesses lowered their heads and allowed the unsettling theory to percolate through their minds, trying to find some way to disprove it.

A sudden buzzing sound made Astrid jump to her feet and quickly expand her perception outwards, searching for the source of the threat.

"Woah," Sparx said defensively, holding up his tiny arms as he slowed to a hover nearby. "I was just gonna tell you two that I found a huckleberry bush a little ways that way."

Astrid and Ember watched the little dragonfly point towards the north before sharing a glance.

Sparx's expression fell. "What, you guys don't like huckleberries or something?"


	15. Chapter 15

Graves lay on his belly with his head resting on his paws. The scales around his eyes were slightly crusty with salt, and his guts felt as though they had been twisted into a bird's nest of knots and tangles. The guilt over not listening to his friends and letting Flame get injured ate at the edges of his psyche like a rat nibbling away on a piece of soft wood.

The signature, telltale vibrations of a bipedal pair of feet reverberated through the earth and was easily detected by Graves's sensitive paws. He could tell that the creature was only about fifty feet away; it had been a simple matter to track its approach thanks to the rocky ground of the mountains. The earth beneath his paws was almost completely solid rock, and vibrations could travel for a very long distance before dissipating.

He kept his eyes closed as though he was sleeping, although he wasn't very concerned about appearances; the moonless night was dark enough that the Earth dragon could barely see the ground below his paws, and it was safe to assume that the creature had just as much trouble seeing as he did. As the creature continued to approach, Graves took in a deep, calming breath and tensed his core muscles in preparation for a fight. The creature grew ever nearer, and was only thirty feet away… Twenty feet…

"Good evening, dragon of the Earth; I mean you no harm," a gentle voice called out to Graves, making him nearly jump out of his skin in surprise. He had been preparing for snarls, talons, and violence, not a pleasant greeting. "I am unarmed and very old; I would not be able to give you much trouble even if I tried."

Graves rose to his feet and opened his eyes, the possibility of trickery lingering in the back of his mind. There was a large part of him that wanted his visitor to be openly hostile so that he had an excuse to let out some of the anger that pooled in the chambers of his heart. _Maybe they're a wolf, _he wondered, feeling a mote of shame for his fervent hope that he was right. "For your sake, I hope you're telling the truth," he said evenly, wincing as his dry throat made his voice crack. He strained the pads on his paws for any other signs of life in the area, but detected none. "Trying to attack me in the dark isn't the brightest idea."

"I am sure that you felt me coming over a quarter mile away," the gentle voice chuckled, taking a few steps closer to Graves until they were only about ten feet away from the Earth dragon. The owner of the voice was definitely masculine and definitely old, and there was a curious accent that Graves couldn't place that drew out certain syllables. He thought he recognized the voice from somewhere, but he couldn't quite place it. "Rest assured, my intentions are pure, unlike some members of my village."

Graves's heart skipped a beat as a dose of adrenaline entered his bloodstream. "So you _are _a wolf," he growled, furrowing his brow and closing his eyes. He was almost as blind as Astrid was, thanks to the lack of light, but his Earth element allowed him to feel everything from the wolf's heart rate to his inhales and exhales. The cooled, solidified rage that had rested in his limbs like lead began to heat up and liquefy, making his blood begin to boil.

"I understand your anger, young dragon," the wolf said quietly. The audible pain in his voice made Graves's ire recede slightly in surprise. "A member of my village has potentially killed one of your companions after the four of you provided assistance… Which is the reason that I tracked the four of you here. I am obligated to make apologies, and perhaps amends, on behalf of my village."

_What, he's just gonna say 'sorry' and think it makes up for almost killing Flame? _Graves's bottom lip quivered despite his efforts to keep it still, and he set his jaw as fury filled his chest. "Fuck you," he growled. He raised a paw and punched the rocky ground below him, causing a deadly, six-food stone spike to erupt from the ground a half-inch to the left of the wolf's left paw.

"Not an unwarranted answer," the old wolf chuckled without so much as a flinch. Graves felt him move, but instead of drawing a weapon like he expected him to, he simply unhooked the pack that he had been wearing on his back. "If you are to kill me, then make sure that you take these back to your friends; the four of you dropped them before you began fighting that monstrosity."

Graves felt the backpack gently hit the ground, and after a short few seconds of rustling leather, four additional packs were removed from it and softly placed on the ground next to the wolf. "Giving us what's ours doesn't wash the blood from your packmate's hands."

"That is true indeed," the old wolf said sadly before spreading his arms wide. "I have no means to stop my impending death, but would you mind passing on my apologies to your companions after you kill me? It will help to put my spirit at ease."

Furrowing his brow in a mixture of confusion and anger, Graves felt his temper begin to rise again. He slammed his other paw down onto the ground and caused a second, identical spike of stone to burst upwards on the other side of the wolf, but the old canine didn't move a single muscle in response. "Do you have a deathwish or something? Get lost before I kill you where you stand!" Graves roared, raising himself up to his full height and staring down at the wolf's scarcely-visible outline.

He knew that he could kill the wolf with as much effort as it would take to swat a fly, and he could perfectly imagine what it would feel like to slam his paw into the ground a third time. He could practically feel the vibrations that would reach his paws as he pierced the wolf's body with a third spike, and he told himself that he would stare emotionlessly into the canine's eyes while his heart slowed to a stop. The old wolf's heartbeat was slightly elevated, but it was still calm, which only served to infuriate Graves even further.

Something inside his heart kept the fury and rage from boiling over, though, and Graves's paws stayed put.

"In my youth, I was rather cavalier about endangering my own life, but I have grown very fond of living on this side of the Great Veil," the old wolf said, sounding as though he was talking about the weather. "Alas; I am not afraid of dying."

"You should be," Graves seethed.

"Perhaps you misunderstand," the old wolf laughed, causing Graves to grit his teeth. "I am not afraid of being killed by you."

"Are you blind or something?"

"My vision has stayed sharp despite my age, and wolves have excellent sight even in darkness," the old wolf said. "I can clearly see your two stone spikes; I would imagine that my death would be extraordinarily painful if you decided to pierce my body with one of them." He took two steps forwards; they were a mere five feet away from each other, and Graves could see his hunched outline clearly even in the moonless darkness. "I do not fear you, young dragon. You cannot harm me."

"_**Is that so**_?" Graves roared, rearing up on his hind legs for a second before bringing both paws crashing down into the ground. Three wide, flat walls of stone burst from the ground on the wolf's rear, left, and right, completely immobilizing him. A furious thump of his tail caused an additional, diagonal spike of earth to explode from the ground, pointed directly at the old wolf's throat.

"There is kindness in your heart and gentleness in your eyes," the old wolf said calmly. The tip of the stone spike barely touched his throat, and Graves could feel the vibrations of his voice through the stone. "Even in the darkness, I can see your heart. There is tremendous fury there, true-I saw that much at the gates of my village when your friend was shot-but it is tempered by tenderness and compassion. You cannot harm me, young dragon, lest you betray your nature."

The old wolf's words struck a harsh chord within Graves's heart. He wanted him to be wrong; he knew that he was able to kill the wolf, and he knew how it would feel. _Don't I __**want **__to kill him? Wolves just like him hurt Flame… _"I want to kill you _and _the wolf that shot Flame," Graves growled, hot, embarrassed tears brimming his eyes.

"If my death prevents further violence, then I will gladly offer my life," the old wolf said quietly, and Graves could tell that he was completely serious.

"I should do it," Graves whispered, although he was becoming less and less sure as each second ticked past.

The old wolf clearly tried to shrug, but only succeeded in moving a quarter of an inch thanks to the stone coffin that Graves had erected around him. "I have no way to stop you, but I do not need to."

Graves's left paw curled seemingly on its own, and his talons dug into the earth with as much ease as tearing into flesh. A wave of nausea hit him as his father's rumbling words echoed through his head, shaking the foundations of his towering rage until it came crumbling down to the ground: _Cruelty only begets more cruelty_. His hind legs gave out from underneath him and he sat amongst the rubble and dust of his anger, at a loss for what to do. "I'm an adult," he breathed, his bottom lip quivering. "I should be able to handle something like this."

The old wolf cocked his head. "Something like what?"

Hanging his head in shame, Graves curled his paw and rapped his knuckles against the rocky ground, causing his stone spikes and walls to crumble to dust. "I should be able to take revenge for what you wolves did to Flame."

The old wolf was quiet for a moment while Graves sniffled and struggled to keep his confusing emotions under control. "Do you mind if I sit with you, young dragon?"

"This isn't how I thought this was going to go," Graves muttered after a moment's hesitation, letting out a humorless chuckle. "My name's Graves, by the way; not 'young dragon'."

"And my name is Porto," the old wolf introduced himself as he eased himself down onto the ground next to Graves with a prolonged, strained grunt. "Tell me, Mister Gravenstein: what do you know about revenge?"

Graves set his jaw as he looked up at the sky. The clouds above began to thin out, and the silvery light of the moon rimmed the puffy cloud in front of it with a bright silver outline; when he looked away, an afterimage of the outline persisted in his vision. "Revenge is a necessary evil," he said after considering his words for a moment. "A way to balance the scales once something's knocked them off-balance."

"A necessary evil," Porto echoed. Graves could hear the scratchy sound of the old wolf rubbing his furry chin thoughtfully. "Young dragon, I would like to tell you a story, if you do not mind."

Graves rolled his eyes. "You must be related to my grandpa."

"Perhaps I am," Porto chuckled. "Although I would doubt it."

"Go ahead, I guess," he rumbled, averting his gaze as half of his mind began to listen to the old wolf while the other half stewed in his own thoughts.

"Thank you," Porto said, and the Earth dragon could faintly see that he dipped his head in thanks. "A very, very long time ago, before even the Great War, there was a young wolf who lived in my village with his beloved. The pair of them had many pups together, and even in those lean and uncertain times, they were happy." Porto paused for a moment, licking his chops noisily. "A small group of dragons came to the village and demanded a tithe for the work that they had done to keep the valley safe. None of the wolves had ever seen a dragon before, and they were no strangers to stories of violence between other dragons and other wolf villages, but they served the dragons nonetheless. The dragons were voracious, though, and the lean feast that they had been given only served to whet their appetites.

"The dragons began to leave, with the threat that the wolves would be their next meal if they were unsatisfied with the next offering," Porto continued, sighing. "The wolves had been glad to serve the dragons—after all, the bounty of the gods is for all of us to share—but when their hospitality was thrown back into their face, they grew immediately resentful. When the dragons returned the next day, tempers prevailed over reason, and a gruesome fight broke out. The young wolf's pups were the first casualties, thanks to a Fire dragon's misplaced projectile bomb hitting their hut."

His voice growing grim, Porto shook his furry head. "The young wolf took up his spear and retaliated. He was a mighty warrior, and single-handedly killed two of the five dragons. Two more of the dragons fell to the other villagers' spears, but the last dragon flew away to tell their comrades. That dragon told other dragons about the wolves' savagery, and the village of wolves told other wolves of the dragons' arrogance and cruelty.

"And thus, dragons and wolves went around and around in circles, fighting and killing each other for years on end… until the beginning of the Great War," Porto said, his voice scarcely above a growl. "Servants of Malefor approached the wolven villages, promising untold power in exchange for each dragon head that was brought before them. Most of the wolves were horrified at the offer, but the young wolf found the prospect of power to be irresistible… And he accepted the bargain, leaving his pupless mate behind.

"The young wolf killed fifteen full-grown dragons in total. With each kill, the wolf grew more and more powerful, as he had been promised, but the empty space that his pups had left behind in his soul remained nonetheless. The wolf raged throughout the countryside, becoming naught but a specter of fury and vengeance. He would run for days and nights on end, collapse and sleep for a handful of hours, and then begin again, slaughtering anything in his path." Porto sighed. "The wolf's mate bore him a single pup during this time, but succumbed to sickness mere hours after the birth. The wolf did not even see his mate pass beyond the veil, hellbent as he was on his quest for vengeful fulfillment.

"When the young wolf returned to his home village, he found it near-ruin. The strongest warriors had all accepted Malefor's bargain and were rampaging through the countryside, leaving the village all but defenseless against all manners of creatures. The young wolf, after finding his mate's grave and his only remaining pup, revoked the bargain he had made with the dark master and vowed to protect his village and his pup however he could." Porto hung his head as he finished his story. "The young wolf had more than his fill of revenge, but found that it was just like drinking saltwater: it may quench your thirst for the time being, but it will ultimately cause you to wither away from the inside out."

Graves's body was deathly still as Porto finished speaking, as though any movement from him would cause the old wolf to burst into tears. "I'm sorry about your kids," he said quietly, his voice scarcely above a whisper. He blinked blearily for the first time since Porto's story began; the old wolf's words and gentle voice had lulled him into a trance that demanded every ounce of his attention. He found, with a small amount of surprise, that the remaining cinders of anger and rage in his chest were directed inwards, towards himself, rather than towards Porto or any of the other wolves.

Porto's shoulders bounced lightly as he chuckled. "It has been a very long time since I have told that version of that story; the pups in my village are told a slightly different version, and I try to keep the identity of the main character a secret."

"It wasn't very hard to figure out," Graves snorted.

"Perhaps," Porto said, laughing openly. "But now that you are aware of my past deeds, are you not furious with me for slaughtering so many of your kin? Not to mention, I accepted a pact with the Dark Master himself. Surely your blood must be boiling, no?"

Graves furrowed his brow as he shook his head. "I'm not about to give you any flowers, and I'm not about to say that your actions were justified, but what good would killing you do at this poi-" His words died in his throat. The puffy cloud that obscured the moon finally moved enough that a small sliver of moonlight was able to peek around the corner, illuminating Porto's canine smile with a silvery light. "Fine, you got me," he muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Dragons and wolves have been at each others' throats in this region for decades," Porto said quietly, his voice somber. "It warms my heart to see that someone with a heart like yours still exists; perhaps there is hope for peace yet."

Graves was silent for a moment. "The wolves that confronted us at the gates… they've been hurt by dragons too, haven't they?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Graves could see Porto's smile grow a little bit bigger. "That same empathy and compassion is exactly why I felt safe approaching you in the first place, Mister Gravenstein. You take the pain of others and place it upon your own shoulders; I could see the empathetic pain in your eyes when I told you of my lost children and mate. And even though I have killed many dragons in my youth, you know that killing me would only serve to bring about more vengeance and cruelty in the future." He nodded up at Graves, his smile falling slightly. "You will make for a great leader one day, Graves. Of that, I am sure."

Any emotions that had been in Graves's chest immediately froze solid and fell into the pit of his stomach. "I'm not fit to lead a choir, much less become the Guardian of a temple."

"Mm, are you referring to the way that you ignored your comrades' advice at the village gates?" Porto said, more as a statement than a question. Graves nodded anyway, and the old wolf continued: "Yes, that was an extremely poor call to make."

"Thanks," Graves grumbled, dropping his head.

"So what shall you do to remedy the situation, dragon of the Earth?" Porto asked pointedly, crossing his furry arms across his chest.

Graves opened his mouth to say something along the lines of, _listen to my friends more and look before I leap_, but the words sounded too trite, even in his own head, for him to verbalize. "I don't know," he finally grunted after a few moments of hesitation, "Be less of a dumbass?"

Porto laughed openly, throwing his canine head back and patting his knee with an open paw. "An admirable goal if there ever was one, young dragon." He shook his head as his wolfish smile faded. "Perhaps there is something more pertinent to the situation that you have learned, though…"

Graves rolled his eyes. "I'll be less stupid and angry, I guess."

"Mm," Porto hummed, clearly unsatisfied with the Earth dragon's answer.

"Didn't you say you wanted to talk to the others? They're that way," he pointed to the east with a single claw, "About seven hundred yards. Astrid, the white dragoness, will notice your approach before you're in line of sight, though."

The old wolf stood slowly, letting out a long and wheezing grunt. Coughing a few times as he straightened up, he said, "Alright then, Graves the less-stupid-and-angry-than-he-was-before: lead the way."

Raising his brow, Graves blinked in surprise at the old wolf. "What?"

"Let us go meet up with your friends," Porto said, as though it was the most normal thing in the world. "I think I will be somewhat more well-received if you accompany me during my arrival."

Graves snorted. "I'm starting to think you really do have a deathwish." He shook his head as he brought himself to a sitting position. "I don't think either of us are going to be very well-received, wolf. Astrid was about to rupture a blood vessel in anger, and Ember was keeping to herself, but I could tell that she wasn't exactly happy with me."

"Oh dear," Porto said, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "It is a shame that there is nothing that you can do to remedy the situation. Why," he raised a finger as though he had just been stricken with a remarkable idea, "Perhaps we could think of a way that you could verbally show remorse and—"

"I get it," Graves grumbled, cutting him off, "I'll apologize. Don't rub it in." He took a step eastwards, where he knew that Astrid, Ember, and Flame were, but he stopped himself before Porto could take a step behind him. "You know, it might be a better idea to let them cool down a little bit before we show ourselves. They might actually kill both of us."

"Maybe they will," Porto nodded slowly, placing the dragons' packs back into his knapsack. "But I would be willing to bet that tempers have cooled off with the setting of the sun, and who knows: perhaps they need you more than you think they do."

Graves regarded the scarcely-visible outline of the old wolf for a few seconds, nibbling the inside of his lower lip. "Don't blame me if Astrid kills both of us," he said with a shrug, shaking his head as he began to walk eastward towards his friends. _At least, _he mumbled internally, _I __**hope **__they'll consider me a friend after all this…_

* * *

**(****A/N****): I'm gonna name this chapter "Oops! All exposition!" **


	16. Chapter 16

Spyro squinted at the early evening sunlight as it did its best to shine directly into his eyes. He held up a wing to block out the blinding rays as he walked side-by-side with Cynder on their evening walk. His breaths had been coming a little bit faster than he would expect them to on a casual walk, but his limbs were free of pain and a dear friend walked beside him. His paws were steady underneath him, and his legs didn't shake even a little bit.

He inhaled deeply and took in the clear mountain air as he allowed himself a small smile.

"Seems like you're in a pretty good mood," Cynder noted, smirking out of the corner of her mouth at him.

"I was just thinking about something," Spyro said, shrugging innocently at her.

She cocked her head. "What were you thinking about?"

He glanced upwards, and he noticed that Cynder followed his gaze. The clouds above were fat, puffy, and tall, which told him that the air was extremely windy and turbulent above the mountain peaks that surrounded them. The mouse cave that Spyro and Cynder had been staying in was situated in the middle of a massive, dormant caldera that was surrounded by a ring of tall mountain peaks. The wind from the surrounding countryside couldn't make it over the tops of the mountains, which left the air in the caldera itself perfectly calm. Spyro even guessed that most of the water that trickled through the streams here and there were fed by the melting snow from the mountain peaks instead of rain.

Spyro was hit with the sudden realization that this was the perfect place to teach a group of young hatchlings how to fly for the first time, but he shook the thought away before it had time to take root.

"I was thinking," Spyro said slowly, turning around and walking backwards in order to properly smirk at the black dragoness, "About how you're it." Before she could properly respond, he reached up and pressed the pad of his paw against the end of her soft, warm snout.

Cynder sputtered in indignation as Spyro took a few quick bounds away from her. "What was that for?" She wrinkled her nose and looked as though she was about to sneeze.

Spyro hunkered down into a play-fighting stance, a broad smile on his face. "You're _it_. You know, tag?"

Cynder blinked at him. "'Tag'?"

The smile slid from Spyro's face as the implications of Cynder's confusion about playing tag hit him like a ton of bricks. The illustration of a young Cynder in Gaul's chains from the Chronicler's book rushed to the forefront of his mind. "Yeah, tag!" He rolled his shoulders and spread his wings wide as he forced his smile to return. "You're it, so you've gotta tag me back."

"Uh… alright?" Cynder cocked her head at him. "And then what?"

"And then I'm it, and I'll have to tag you."

"By patting me on the nose again?"

"No," Spyro laughed, throwing his head back. "Well, not necessarily."

"Sounds… simple."

Spyro hopped backwards, sticking his rump into the air and wiggling it back and forth like a cat. "Well if you think it's so easy…"

"I didn't say—"

"Then come and tag me back!" Spyro called, flapping his wings once as he lowered his head and broke out into an all-out sprint across the grassy field.

For a few breathless seconds, he wondered if he was simply making a fool of himself and that Cynder was standing in the exact same spot with a confused look on her face. Just as he was about to turn his head to look back at her, a burst of air suddenly washed over his face, making him skid to a stop. He looked up from his charge to see Cynder flaring her wings to come to a short stop right in front of him with a bemused look on her face.

He didn't have time to stop, so Spyro jumped to the side and gave his wings a quick flap to give him as much lateral movement as possible. Cynder landed hard right in his original path, her smirk quickly turning into a frown as her prey escaped. She offered a hasty swipe as the purple dragon dodged to her left, but her pink and black wingtip missed his side by scarcely an inch. An exhilarated laugh bubbled up and out of his throat as he narrowly escaped his pursuer, who turned on her heel and immediately gave chase on foot.

Spyro glanced backwards every few steps to judge Cynder's distance from him. He caught a few glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye, and it almost seemed to him that he was gaining ground on her. When he looked back again, though, she had disappeared completely from his field of view. He turned his head completely around and skidded to a stop before whipping his head left and right, but the black dragoness was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did…?" Spyro muttered, but a sudden thought struck him and caused the rest of his words to die in his throat.

Unfortunately for him, his realization hit him a split-second too late. Cynder leapt out of his shadow and tackled him from below, evacuating the air from his lungs. Spyro grunted in surprise as he was lifted into the air before Cynder flapped her wings once and pushed him onto his back. "So you're 'it' now, right?" She asked, tapping his chest with a single extended talon as she smugly smirked down at him.

"You've got a really enthusiastic tag," Spyro coughed, but he wore a mischievous grin. Without warning, he reached up and quickly but harmlessly swiped at the side of the black dragoness's neck. His paw sailed through the air with impressive speed, but Cynder dodged his tag and hopped off of him with enough grace to make it look completely casual. Furrowing his brow, Spyro hefted himself off the ground and aimed three more hasty swipes at her, but she stayed a mere inch or so away from him.

"Is there a bee buzzing around me?" Cynder asked innocently, looking down at herself with a frown. She effortlessly dodged another pair of swipes and a wild pounce.

Spyro's grin broadened; Cynder's legs had crossed over themselves after her last dodge and, thinking he had an advantage, he turned and swung his tail at her. She managed to dodge, but instead of tripping over her own legs like he expected her to, she jumped into the air without opening her wings, somersaulted, and lightly tapped his nose with the pad of her paw in midair before landing lightly in front of him.

"So are you, like… double-it, now?" Cynder asked, cocking her head to the side while the most prideful and cocky smile that Spyro had ever seen began to spread across her face.

"Why you little…" Spyro grumbled as the black dragoness sauntered away from him. He flapped his wings and took to the air, quickly gaining ground on her, but she simply gave a hearty laugh and became airborne as well.

"Catch me if you can, slowpoke," she teased, flying straight and level for a few seconds to stick her tongue out at him before twisting in the air and flying away from him. She faded into a black smudge against the greenery alarmingly quickly, and Spyro allowed his smile to broaden as he pumped his wings as hard as he could to start catching up with her.

* * *

Spyro collapsed onto his stomach, his breaths coming in heaving gasps. The sky had turned to a brilliant gold, turning the tops of the trees and the long grass a harvest orange. Cynder's front paws suddenly appeared in his field of view and she wasted no time tamping down the grass underneath herself and laying down in the grass in front of him. Their noses ended up about two feet apart, and Spyro realized that he could just barely feel her warm breath on the end of his snout whenever she exhaled.

"I think," Spyro said once he had started to catch his breath, "That I overdid it a little bit."

Cynder's brow raised in faux surprise. "Oh, do you think so? You don't seem very tired."

"It's not my fault that you're so much faster than me," Spyro grumbled. He tried to dodge her gaze, but doing so was hard thanks to their close proximity.

"Sure; blame it on me," she said, rolling her eyes dramatically. "It's not my fault I'm so good at a game I've never heard of."

Spyro snorted. "Maybe I'm just bad at tag."

"You mean there's something the legendary purple dragon isn't naturally good at?" Cynder reached up and covered her mouth, which had formed a sarcastic 'o' of surprise. "Perish the thought."

"Believe it or not," Spyro nodded slowly, stifling a chuckle. "You're looking at the all-time loser of swamp tag. I could never catch Sparx or any of the other dragonflies."

"Swamp tag?"

"Swamp tag."

"Is that different from regular tag?"

"Of course; swamp tag is played in a swamp." Spyro's poker face cracked and then finally broke as a smirk spread across his face.

"Don't you get smart with me," Cynder said severely, her face hardened into a stern expression, but a smile cracked through her own poker face after a few seconds.

Both she and Spyro burst out into genuine, unashamed laughter, each of them rolling onto their backs in their mirth. Both of them felt completely safe and at ease with one another, with no fear of rebuke or judgement. They both allowed their laughter to descend into happy, quiet contentment with one another as Spyro looked 'up' at Cynder and met her gaze. Their eyes locked for a few moments, but as their mirth and smiles faded, Cynder broke the eye contact and looked upwards at the slowly-darkening sky.

"This is a beautiful place," Cynder said quietly. The golden sunlight reflected off of her black and pink scales as though each individual one had been dusted with microscopic, flawless diamonds. A few smudges of dirt and grime clung to her body in a few places thanks to their marathon tag session, but in Spyro's opinion, no one in the history of the world had ever looked more elegant or gorgeous. Her eyes darted back to Spyro's every now and then as she traced the mountain peaks with her gaze; if she minded his lingering stare, she didn't give any indication.

"Beautiful, yeah," Spyro breathed, utterly unable to look at the scenery.

"I don't think I've ever told you this," Cynder said after a few minutes of comfortable silence, "Well, I don't think I've told anybody at all about this, actually. But back… back _then, _I used to have daydreams about somehow breaking the chains that bound my soul and living in a place like this. No one to fight, no one to give me orders, no one to give orders to…" The corners of her mouth drifted downwards. "No one to kill. I could just… _live_. Without causing anyone or anything pain. I'd be out of everyone's way."

Spyro's mouth drew itself into a tight line as a pit of worry settled into his stomach. "You've never been in my way," he said firmly and without thinking about his words.

Cynder burst into laughter so suddenly that she snorted, and then quickly covered her entire snout with both of her front paws. "Spyro, I _personally _tried to kill you on three different occasions, and that's not even mentioning the armies-plural armies, with an 's'-that I sent after you."

Spyro opened his mouth to say 'No you didn't,' but quickly closed it after the black dragoness gave him a withering stare that threatened doom if he tried to feed her empty words. "_Three _times?" He asked, quirking a brow at her.

"Three times."

"... What was the third time?"

"Once at Munitions Forge, once on top of my lair, and once in Convexity." She held up a paw and counted off each instance on each of her talons. "Three times."

"Those last two only count as one," Spyro said, shaking his head firmly. "And you weren't exactly yourself back then anyways. You already know that I don't count the things you did back then as things that '_you_' did."

Cynder's gaze stopped wandering around the scenery around them and locked with Spyro's, but she turned her head and looked directly up at the deep orange sky after a few seconds. "It's almost like I've lived an entire lifetime before I met you. Like after I met you and you freed me, I started a whole new life with a whole new mind. Or, like… I dunno, I mean…" She trailed off, shaking her head after a few seconds of thought. "Whatever. Forget I said anything."

"I think I know what you mean," Spyro breathed, not bothering to speak any louder. He knew that Cynder would hear his words thanks to their closeness. "My life went from peaceful to insane so suddenly that it almost feels like I've lived two different lives, or maybe that I've been two different dragons… Like there was the young Spyro who lived in the swamp and played tag with dragonflies, and then the older Spyro, who picks fights with evil, millenia-old purple dragons and their henchmen."

Cynder's lips curled into a smile for a moment, but slowly faded as she spoke: "Weird as it might sound, I feel sorta the same, but… opposite, I guess you could say? Like there's the young Cynder, who… well. You know. And then there's the older Cynder, who flies around with a purple dragon and tries to help out the exact same creatures she had tried to hurt earlier in her life.

"And the weirdest part is that even though these past few months have been nothing but absolute _insanity_," she continued with a humorless laugh, "It feels like the time that I've spent with you has been the most peaceful time of my entire life."

"I don't think I'd use that particular word to describe it," Spyro said with a casual laugh, but he hung onto every word that came out of the black dragoness's mouth. It was rare for Cynder to talk about her feelings, and even more rare for her to do so unprompted. _Or maybe this is just what she's like when we're not fighting to save the world, _Spyro pondered. A tiny voice in the back of his head told him that they only knew one side of each other, but it was easily dismissed.

"Well, what word would you use to describe it?" Cynder's lips curved into an expectant smile. "And technically it's been, like… three and a half years, thanks to that crystal stunt you pulled."

Spyro quickly opened his mouth to respond, but decided that the question deserved a little bit more consideration. "Meaningful," he said after a moment's deliberation. "And life-changing."

Cynder was quiet for a few moments as she studied his face with a smile that slowly grew across her face. "Yeah, I'd say that I can agree on that one." She fell silent again, but her mouth opened and closed a few times as though she couldn't figure out how to put something into words. "Spyro, I know I'm not the most… _open, _emotionally speaking, but ever since we fought in Convexity, you've done nothing but help me, and you've been nothing but kind to me. I give you grief every now and then, but I want you to know that I really, really appreciate everything you've done for me."

Spyro's heart felt as though it swelled inside his chest. "Don't mention it," he said, feeling almost giddy. Shadows slowly slid over the purple and black dragons' faces as the sun finally dipped down below the mountaintops, casting the caldera into an early twilight. Cynder's brilliant blue eyes seemed to almost glow in the dim light, and Spyro found himself having a hard time looking away from them. After finally managing to tear his gaze away, he rolled onto his back and looked upwards just like Cynder. He muttered an apology as one of his horns bumped hers.

The stars overhead slowly began to appear, one by one, as the twin moons began to become more and more visible in the sky. The pair of white, baleful lights hung in the orangish sky and began to replace the sun's natural light.

"The stars seem so bright here," Spyro noted, finally breaking the silence that had fallen over the two of them. "We've been sleeping in the cave ever since we defeated Malefor, and I hadn't…" he trailed off.

"I haven't really looked at them either," Cynder finished for him. "They seem so close to us."

Spyro stifled a yawn for a few moments, but eventually his willpower gave out and he allowed it through his defenses. He stretched out all four of his legs as he yawned hugely, his tired muscles shuddering slightly. "I hope the mice don't worry about us too much," he mumbled, smacking his lips and smirking as Cynder was infected with his yawn.

"I'm sure they'll be alright for a night or so without us," the black dragoness mumbled back to him. The night was still relatively new, but both of the young dragons had been feeling lazy and lethargic for the past few days, and going to sleep for the night a mere hour after the sun had 'set' behind the mountain peaks wasn't out of the question for them. "Been a while since we've slept outside."

"Yeah," Spyro breathed, his eyelids drifting downwards as sleep began to overtake him. "At least it's not cold in these mountains."

"It's always warm here… It'd be a nice place to live," Cynder commented, a strange tone creeping into her voice that Spyro was unaccustomed to hearing.

"Mmhm," Spyro hummed in noncommittal agreement.

"Maybe…" Cynder started, but her breath caught in her throat and she stopped.

"Hm?"

"Maybe we could just live here forever," she whispered, as though she was afraid of Spyro's answer. "After we tell everybody that we're okay."

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Spyro breathed, scarcely aware of his own words.

Cynder didn't respond for a few moments, and concern over her silence brought him back from the brink of sleep. Spyro opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off as Cynder murmured, "Good night, Spyro."

Closing his mouth for a moment, Spyro allowed himself a smile as he shifted his weight on the grass slightly. "Good night, Cynder. Sweet dreams to you."

The purple dragon and black dragoness closed their eyes as they lay on their backs in the vast meadow. Nary a whisper of wind blew through the warm valley, and the only sounds that surrounded the draconic pair were a handful of birds that were getting one last song in before they retired for the night. Their wings lay limp across the long grass below them as though they were flying above an endless, inky sea of stars with clouds of earth directly above them.

* * *

**(A/N): Y'all ever just forget to update your fanfic for a whole month? Haha yeah me neither haha**


	17. Chapter 17

Astrid was roused from her state of almost-sleep by a pair of pinpricks of light that appeared on the very edge of her perception. She jerked her head upwards and instinctively pointed it in the direction of the two beings; she could tell that one was a dragon, and the other was certainly sapient, but she couldn't even guess what species it was. A telekinetic jab in Ember's side brought her to wakefulness with a sleepy but alarmed grunt.

"Heads up," Astrid hissed, stifling an exhausted groan as she brought herself to a standing position. Her paws were spread wide and her head hung low, but with another grunt that tickled the back of her throat, she straightened herself up into a more dignified position. "Might be trouble."

Ember gathered herself up to her paws as well, albeit in a much smoother and more controlled manner. She gave her head a quick shake to dispel the sleepiness that surely lingered in her eyes. "Where?"

"In those trees, heading towards us. About forty yards," Astrid said quietly, motioning with her head. She extended her perception behind herself to check on her patient: Flame's breathing was slow and steady, and he rested in a shallow but restful sleep. Sparx was still asleep as well, although she was fairly certain that the little dragonfly could sleep through an earthquake without so much as twitching. The plant paste that Astrid had eaten earlier had bolstered her flagging strength long enough to heal Flame's injury a little bit more, but she was still running on fumes. Astrid guessed that it wasn't quite midnight, but she had no way of knowing. "A dragon and… something bipedal."

"You think they're dangerous?" Ember whispered fearfully.

"Guess we're about to find out," Astrid muttered as the pair of life signs continued to approach. "They're making a beeline for us, so they must know we're here. Get ready."

Both dragonesses took a few steps away from Flame and the smoldering campfire and took up defensive stances in front of their friends. They tensed in preparation for a fight, but Astrid's wings fell down to her sides in surprise as she recognized one of the life signs. She felt her temper flare explosively, and she forced herself to take a deep, calming breath to keep herself civil.

"_Explain_, idiot," Astrid growled once Graves was in earshot. She noticed that Ember squinted confusedly in the darkness before glancing over at her in a silent request for an explanation. "Graves is back, and he's made a canine friend," she explained as Graves and the wolf stepped out of the woods and onto the gravel shore of the pond.

"He just wants to help," Graves said calmly, holding up a defensive paw as both he and the wolf stopped about twenty feet away from the pair of dragonesses. "He brought our packs from where we dropped them back at his village."

Astrid opened her mouth in preparation for a belligerent, bombastic tirade, but snapped her jaw shut as she realized the implications of their packs being returned to them. Her stomach growled mightily, and as though reading her mind, the old wolf unhooked his overstuffed backpack and gently sat it on the gravel lakebed in front of him. Astrid twisted her head to telekinetically open the pack from a distance, and after focusing her perception on the larger pack for a few seconds, she located her own pack inside. Another quick jerk of her head made her pack fly out of the wolf's backpack and straight at her face. She reared up on her hind legs and caught the pack in midair and wasted no time in reaching a paw in and yanking out a small package of goat jerky wrapped in cheesecloth.

"Graves," Ember said hesitantly as Astrid began choking down hunks of dried meat as soon as she managed to chew them into pieces small enough to swallow. "Who's your new friend?"

Astrid didn't feel like sparing much of her attention to Graves of the wolf, distracted as she was by food, but she focused her perception on the wolf and quickly found that he had nothing remotely close to a weapon hidden in the folds of his tunic. Figuring that the wolf probably wasn't much of a threat, she scanned the woods around them for any signs of sapient life waiting to ambush them. Finding none, she stuffed her mouth full of jerky again and rummaged around in her pack again until she found the Spyro compass. She focused a little bit of her Spirit magic into the crystal, and there was a sliver of light that appeared on the metal ring that supposedly indicated Spyro's location.

The sliver of light was significantly thicker than it had been when she checked it in the canyonlands, telling her that they were getting closer to their goal. Swallowing her mouthful of food, she returned her attention to the wolf, who bowed deeply to both dragonesses.

"My name is Porto," the wolf said, holding the bow. Astrid didn't have to focus very hard to 'see' the aches and pains that plagued the canine's joints; the wolf was very, very old. "I have come to return your belongings to you, beg forgiveness on behalf of my village, and potentially make amends."

Astrid's jaw stopped mid-chew and her brow automatically rose in surprise. "And how, exactly, do you intend to make amends for what happened to Flame?"

"In short, I believe I can heal him." Porto said simply, and Astrid felt a tiny burst of hope catapult her heart into her throat. She had stabilized Flame's injury and made considerable progress towards healing and closing the wound, but she still had a very, very long way to go. The food that Flame's family gave them would help immensely, but she still had at least a full day of work left until the injury was fully closed. Astrid would never consider herself a shirker, but the prospect of skipping the rest of the healing process sounded almost too good to be true.

"Graves, get away from him," Ember said suddenly, her voice low and even. Astrid swallowed her mouthful of jerky before setting her pack back down on the gravel lakebed. "He's trying to trick us."

"What!" Graves said in surprise, drawing his head back and glaring at the wolf.

"On my honor, I am not trying to trick you," Porto said calmly, a saddened tinge to his voice.

"Canid magic is shamanistic and ritualistic, and it requires a lot of reagents," Ember elaborated, narrowing her eyes at the wolf as Graves took a few steps away from him. "I don't see any bone dust or pigments on him, and I'm no expert, but I've never heard of a restoration school of canid magic, either."

Porto's lips curved into a half-smile. "You are quite right, young dragoness of Fire… But I do not intend to invoke the names of the spirits to heal your friend."

Astrid lowered her head, trying to appear calm. She had plenty of food in her belly, but her body hadn't had a chance to metabolize it yet, and her legs were still shaking with the effort it took to remain standing. "Go on," Astrid said as calmly as she could.

Porto dipped his head in thanks. "Throughout my long years and my travels far and wide, I have discovered a way to transfer Anima-I believe dragons refer to it as Aether-into someone else," he said gently, holding both his paws out in front of him in a non-threatening gesture.

Astrid glanced over to Ember, who gave a quick shrug. "It checks out, I guess. As far as I can tell, Anima and Aether are more or less interchangeable. Certain texts describe them in different ways, so there might be a few differences, but they can both be summed up as 'life energy'. Innervating an injury with Aether is basically how you heal, isn't it Astrid?"

"Sorta… not really." Astrid snorted. "Except I use a very fine paintbrush, and it sounds like he intends to dump a bucket of paint onto my canvas." She gestured back at Flame's sleeping form with a wingtip. "I can't say I'm altogether thrilled with this idea."

A somewhat sheepish smile spread across Porto's muzzle. "Actually, it would not be me who heals your friend."

The wolf's words took a few moments to filter through the wrinkles in Astrid's brain, but once they registered, she threw her head back and burst into laughter. "Oh, you had me worried for a minute, wolf." At Ember's confused glance, she said, "He wants me to use his life force to heal Flame."

Porto bowed his head and clasped his paws in front of his waist. "I have lived quite a long life; if I can choose how it ends, I would like it to be saving the life of another. After all-"

"Alright, wolf," Astrid chortled, shaking her head as she cut him off. "Apparently you're senile, so I'll just spell this out for you: I'm not gonna kill you in order to save myself a little bit of effort."

"I would not-"

"_No_," Astrid said flatly, glaring at the old wolf as he attempted to speak again. She raised a brow in challenge, but Porto didn't try to say anything else. The mere thought of taking the life force out of a living being, no matter what species they were, and using it to energize herself made her stomach turn. Not to mention, she didn't even want to imagine explaining to Flame that a complete stranger had given his life for him without even asking for his input first.

"Look, even if we were desperate-which we're not, now that I've got plenty of food-consuming someone else's life force is pretty much the biggest taboo there is for Spirit dragons."

"Surely you-"

"Surely I _don't_," Astrid snapped, causing Porto's ears to splay out sideways in frustration. "Look, you're just the splendidest fella around for wanting to help and everything, but we'll be alright. Just let us have our packs and be done with it. I can heal Flame just fine on my own."

Porto pursed his lips for a moment. His eyes appeared to search Astrid's face, and he glanced at Ember and Graves in turn as though gauging their opinions as well. He nodded slowly a few times before bending down and pulling the other packs out of his backpack and setting them down on the gravel lakebed. "As you wish. I would like to offer my apologies on behalf of my village for the injury inflicted upon your friend and for any discomfort that my proposal may have caused you." He leaned forwards in another deep bow.

"Thank you for your apology," Graves said stiffly before dipping his head and gathering the others' packs off of the gravel and hefted them over his shoulder.

"When next we meet, I hope that it is under better circumstances," Porto said as he straightened up.

"Don't you mean 'if'?" Ember said flatly, quirking a brow at him.

"Of course," Porto said quickly, a soft smile making the corners of his eyes crinkle. "May your ancestors watch over you."

Astrid's stomach muscles finally began to unclench as the old wolf walked backwards for a few steps before turning and slowly disappearing back into the distance. Graves dropped the three packs onto the gravel next to the smoldering campfire that Ember had made earlier in the night. Feeling her muscles tense again in anger, Astrid quickly turned her head away from the large Earth dragon and sat roughly onto the ground next to Flame.

She closed her tired eyes and let herself slip into a deep, contemplative trance while she mulled over the long day's many events in her head. The food in her belly slowly began to innervate her body and restore her energy, easing the shakes in her paws and wings. Flame twitched slightly in his sleep, oblivious to the morbid offer that had just been made on his behalf.

"We're not gonna tell him, are we?" Ember whispered as she sat down next to the fire.

Astrid 'watched' as the pink Fire dragoness lowered her head and blew a small, smooth cloud of flame into the middle of the campfire to rekindle it. "We're not his parents, Ember," she snorted, but kept her voice low. "But unless he asks, I don't see why we should tell him."

Graves shifted uncomfortably as he sat down a little ways away from the other three dragons. "If I had known-"

"Graves, I don't feel like yelling at you right now, so just shut the hell up and go to sleep," Astrid growled, making the Earth dragon duck his head slightly. She lifted her paws above Flame's neck and poured more of her energy into the injury as though it would keep her from hearing anything else.

"I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you or Ember, and I hope I can make it up to all three of you," Graves said quietly despite Astrid's warning.

The white Spirit dragoness took a deep breath, her temper flaring into a maelstrom of fury before disappearing completely. The glowing ash of the inferno in her chest left only exhaustion that was tinged with a regretful sadness in its place. Figuring she was simply just too tired to be angry, she sighed and said, "Just shut up and let me focus. Both of you go to sleep or something. I'll keep the first watch."


End file.
